Adventure Time: The Unofficial Season Eleven and Twelve
by Saric the Slayer
Summary: All was well in Ooo since Golb's banishment at the end of the Gum War, until one day the Lich unexpectedly returns and takes on a new body. With his return comes the end of an era and the rise of a new ruler in Ooo, setting in motion a chain of events that will ultimately force Finn to grow up and face the harsh reality of adulthood as he overcomes new trials and hardships in life.
1. Introduction

Hello everyone, this will be my first attempt at making an Adventure Time related story, but I am no stranger to writing fan-fiction. This is a story I have had in mind for quite some time, the idea first coming to me around the time Islands premiered, which was actually what got me back into Adventure Time after not having watched it since season five. Since then I have been writing down a bunch of story ideas and working them out in my head until I was eventually able to come up with several episodes worth of story content that would be enough to fill up maybe two seasons of Adventure Time, and now I want to write a story using those ideas.

My primary goal when writing this story is to make it feel like a natural continuation of the show by ensuring that it fits with the established canon as much as possible. At first I was debating whether I should just wait for the show to finish before starting this story or if I should just start it while the idea was still fresh in my mind, and eventually I decided to go with the latter option. A big problem of mine when writing fan-fiction is that I rarely, if ever, finish the stories that I start because I would often lose the motivation to continue writing them after a while. I started this story around the time Elements aired, so at point the show was still ongoing and certain plot points from it had yet to be resolved. I made it up to Chapter Eleven of this story before I then decided to take a break and just wait for the show to finish before continuing any further with it.

Now that the finale has officially aired, I am able to adjust the plot of this story accordingly, and as such I have taken the time to go back and rewrite some of the earlier chapters so that they better align with the events of final season of the show. As a result of these changes, some of you who are just now finding this story for the first time might notice that a few of the older reviews left by readers make reference to things that happened in the older versions of those chapters that are no longer there, but do not be alarmed or confused by them and think that you missed anything important. The original name I had for this story was Adventure Time: The Unofficial Final Season, but now that the show is officially over I have decided to change its name to Adventure Time: The Unofficial Season Eleven and Twelve and have it act as a sequel to the show.

I call it the "Unofficial" Season Eleven and Twelve for two reasons. The first is because there is technically already an Adventure Time sequel comic series called Adventure Time: Season Eleven that continues the story after the finale, though the creators of the show have gone on to say that these comics are not canon. Even so, I still put "Unofficial" in the title to differentiate the two, so as not to confuse people. If the events of the Season Eleven comics do not conflict with this story too much, then I might even incorporate some elements from them into it, as well as from other Adventure Time comics if I feel they will help enrich the experience. The second reason I have decided to call this story the Unofficial Season Eleven and Twelve is because of how long it will probably end up being. This story will have two parts to it, the first being called Season Eleven, and the second being called Season Twelve. I know this might sound like a really ambitious undertaking for a fan-fiction, especially with a name like that, and who knows if I will ever finish it, but I sure as hell am going to try.

If you are wondering when this sequel story takes place, it picks up a few months after the end of the Gum War. It will attempt to resolve a lot of the loose ends and unfinished plot points left over from the show, while also telling a brand new story of its own. It will be a roller coaster ride of emotions that at times will make you laugh, cry, and smile. The pasts and origins of many different characters will explored and expanded upon, and the story will take some unexpected twists and turns that may shock you. As for what to expect, the story will have a slightly darker and more mature tone to it, kind of like what the final season of Samurai Jack did, but no need to worry, as it will not be anything too extreme or out of character for Adventure Time. I will try to keep the core of the show and its humor intact. The story itself will have a few overarching themes and messages sprinkled throughout it. Much like how the previous seasons of the show taught lessons about childhood, this story will build upon those by teaching lessons about adulthood, in particular for Finn as he transitions from a teenager to an adult.

In a way, this story could be viewed as a deconstruction of Adventure Time as a whole, one that will constantly try to subvert your exceptions. Something that always bugged me about the show was how it never allowed the status quo to change in any major way, and any change that did happen would usually be reversed within a few episodes and ultimately amount to nothing. The characters would just get together, sing a song, and then everything would be made right with the world again. That would always be their get out of jail free card. Things will not be so simple and easy here. The actions the characters take and the events that surround them will have lasting consequences that carry over from chapter to chapter. Expect the status quo to be turned completely on its head, and in fact one of the main driving forces behind this story will be the characters having to come to terms with an unexpected change to the status quo, one that they cannot reverse. Even if some things do get happily resolved in the end, they will never quite be the same as they were before.

Lastly, something to keep an eye out for at the end of each chapter is a little section written in bold text that serves as sort of an Author's Notes segment where I will provide commentary on the events of that particular chapter. In these segments, I will reveal various tid-bits of information that range from what the process of writing that chapter was like and what was going on in my head when I wrote it, to what sort of things served as inspiration for me and the ways in which certain events from that chapter could be interpreted, both literally and figuratively.


	2. Episode 1: Whodunit

**Season Eleven**

* * *

A few months had passed since the conclusion of the Gum War, and peace had once again returned to the land of Ooo. The day started out much like any in the Candy Kingdom, with seemingly nothing out of the ordinary, until something truly horrific occurred that left the candy people shaken. Someone had been murdered, and when Princess Bubblegum received the news she immediately rushed over to the scene of the crime to see it for herself. On her way there, Bubblegum towered over her citizens like a giant, her body having recently gone through a strange growth spurt that had caused it to gain more candy biomass than usual. This did not go unnoticed, as it attracted looks and stares from many of the surrounding candy people, who seemed just as intrigued by the sight of their ruler as they were by the murder itself. After Bubblegum made her way through the crowd of onlookers standing at the crime scene, she was met with the sight of a small creator in the ground, inside of which were the shattered remains of Peppermint Butler.

"What happened here?" asked Bubblegum, turning to ask Starchy who was nearby. "Why is Peppermint Butler in pieces?"

"Nobody knows." said Starchy, shrugging. "This morning we found him like this."

"Do you think it was an accident?" asked a Banana Guard. "We're right under the castle balcony. Maybe he fell form up there?"

"Peppermint Butler is made of hard candy." said Bubblegum, bending down to examine his remains in the crater. "A fall alone wouldn't do this much damage. It looks he was crushed to death by something landing on top of him."

"Was he murdered?" asked the Banana Guard, the nearby candy people beginning to whisper among themselves.

"It's possible." said Bubblegum. "Someone might have pushed him off the balcony, and then came down to make sure he was dead."

"Who could have do something so horrible to poor little Peppermint Butler!" said Starchy.

"I don't know." said Bubblegum. "Pep But has made a lot of enemies over the years. It could have been any one of them. I'll have to do a thorough investigation."

As the crowd of candy people began to disperse and leave, Bubblegum collected the pieces of her loyal butler and put them into a plastic zip-lock bag. It was then that she noticed a figure lurking in the distance and turned to see Sweet P, who quietly disappeared behind a street corner after leaving a patch of bushes.

"Sweet P?" asked Bubblegum, muttering to herself. "Was he watching me the whole time?"

Bubblegum walked away with the bag of Peppermint Butler's remains, ready to take them back her lab so she could put his body back together and revive him.

* * *

A few days went by, and now within the Candy Kingdom police station stood four people with their backs to the wall as part of a suspect lineup. These four people were Starchy, Lemongrab, Dirt Beer Guy, and the newly anointed Ice King Gunter, the individuals who Bubblegum had determined to be the four most likely suspects based on accounts that they were near the scene of the crime when it happened. A Banana Guard stepped forward and began to take photos of the suspects for the record book, but every time he took a picture it would only be ruined by Ice King doing some sort of silly gesture, causing Bubblegum to sigh and roll her eyes.

"You all know why you're here." said Bubblegum, speaking through a microphone from behind a two way mirror as she struggled to sit down and fit her legs under the table. "The four of you are suspects in the murder of Peppermint Butler."

"I didn't do anything." said Ice King, immediately asserting his innocence. "You only arrested me because I'm a wizard, didn't you? This is magical profiling!"

"Unacceptable!" said Lemongrab. "I demand a lawyer."

"I just want to ask you a few questions." said Bubblegum. "It won't take long, then you can all be on your way."

"If it means I can go home, fine." said Ice King.

"Alright, I'll start with you Starchy." said Bubblegum. "You were the one who discovered Peppermint Butler's body that morning. Can you tell me what you were doing before that?"

"I was just finishing up my nightly rounds in the city." said Starchy. "Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary. I even saw Sweet P at the playground and said hi to him. A little while later I walked into the town square and that's where I found Peppermint Butler, smashed into a million pieces."

"So Peppermint Butler was already dead when you found him." said Bubblegum, writing down what Starchy had said into her notebook. "Alright Lemongrab, you're up next. So what were you doing the night of the crime? Were you watching the candy citizens sleep again?"

"I was doing no such thing." said Lemongrab. "Peppermint Butler and I were out for an early morning stroll near the edge of the Candy Forest. After that we parted ways and left for our respective homes. On the way back I nearly had a heart attack when some baby man came running out from the forest and almost trampled me."

"I see, so you were the last person to see Peppermint Butler alive, and after he returned to the city he was killed." said Bubblegum, writing down what Lemongrab had said in her notebook. "Now Dirt Beer Guy, what were you doing at the time of the murder?"

"I was getting ready to open the tavern." said Dirt Beer Guy. "After I took the trash out to the dumpster, I heard a loud scream come from the direction of the town square. Then I heard these heavy footsteps coming up behind me, so I got scared and hid in one of the alleyways until they were gone."

"You say you heard Peppermint Butler scream and then saw his attacker flee the scene of the crime?" said Bubblegum, writing down what Dirt Beer Guy had said in her notebook. "Alright Ice King, what about you? What were you up to that morning?"

"I was at the laundromat returning all those old coat hangers I borrowed." said Ice King. "On my way out of the city some big guy plowed into me right as I was crossing the drawbridge. He looked like he was in a hurry."

"That must have been the same person Dirt Beer Guy heard running behind him, and you witnessed them fleeing the city." said Bubblegum, writing down what Ice King had said in her notebook. "It's all starting to come together now."

"That sounds just like the baby man I saw come out of the woods." said Lemongrab.

"So all three of you saw the suspect then?" said Bubblegum "What about you Starchy?"

"The only other person I saw that that morning was Sweet P." said Starchy.

"Wait a minute, Sweet P?" said Bubblegum, now seeing a connection between all of their stories. "The descriptions you all gave sound just like him. You don't suppose he had something to do with it, did he?"

"There's no way he did it." said Starchy, offended by the notion. "Sweet P wouldn't hurt a fly. He's just too sweet."

"I don't want to believe it either, but the facts are all starting to point towards him being involved somehow." said Bubblegum. "I hate to say this, but Sweet P is our number one suspect right now."

"I won't believe it until I see proof." said Starchy, refusing to accept it.

"We'll know soon enough." said Bubblegum. "I've just finished putting Peppermint Butler's body back together. Now all that's left is for me to revive him with my decorpsinator serum ask him about what happened. You're all free to go now. I'll continue the investigation on my own."

As the four of them left the interrogation room, Ice King took notice of Bubblegum's size wen passing by her.

"Wow, you've gotten really big princess." said Ice King, seeing that Princess Bubblegum was now twice her usual size and height. "Have you been packing on the pounds lately?"

"Just go home already Ice King." said Bubblegum, not in the mood to chat with Ice King. "This is just a natural part of my biology that all gum people go through once they reach a certain stage in their lives."

After Starchy, Lemongrab, Dirt Beer Guy, and Ice King had all left, Bubblegum made her way to her lab where she was keeping the body of young Peppermint Butler after putting it back together. All that remained was for her to revive him with her perfected decorpsinator serum.

"This feels nostalgic." said Bubblegum, smiling as she grabbed a test tube of decorpsinator serum. "Hopefully there's no zombies this time."

After pouring some of the decorpsinator serum onto Peppermint Butler, the color returned to his body and he was revitalized. Upon waking up he took a large gasp of air and began to scream.

"No, get off of me!" said Peppermint Butler. "Help! Help!"

"Calm down Pep But, everything's alright now." said Bubblegum, hugging the young Peppermint Butler. "Can you tell me what happened? Who did this to you?"

"It was, it was..." said Peppermint Butler, now sobbing. "It was the big scary baby man!"

"You mean Sweet P?" said Bubblegum, her suspicions now confirmed. "Why would he do that? Has _"he"_ returned?"

Bubblegum stood there for a moment, considering what her next course of action should be, and then came to the decision that she would need to confront Sweet P.

* * *

The next day Princess Bubblegum set out to go find Sweet P, searching the city for signs of the baby man. She now had strong reason to believe that Sweet P was the one responsible for Peppermint Butler's death, but she had not yet told anyone else of this for fear of causing an uproar among the candy citizens. She still needed to know why Sweet P had done it, and to do that she would need to track him down and ask him herself. Bubblegum watched and waited in the town square, and finally caught a glimpse of Sweet P turning a corner and immediately began to follow him. She made sure to keep her distance and be as discreet as possible, carefully watching Sweet P from afar. At some point in her pursuit, Sweet P must have caught on to the fact that he was being followed, and his movements and actions became much more erratic, as though he were trying to throw her off his trail. It came as no surprise that Sweet P had noticed Bubblegum following him, given how the large size of her body made her stick out like a sore thumb within the crowds. Bubblegum was persistent however, and the chase quickly turned into a subtle game of cat and mouse which took them to various locations in the city. The more that Bubblegum watched Sweet P's actions, the more apparent it became to her that he was much smarter than he was letting on, leading her to wonder if Sweet P was really the one in control.

Along the way there were many close calls where it almost seemed like Sweet P was going to do something dastardly and evil, only for it to then turn out to be a false alarm. At one point Sweet P approached an old candy lady standing by the side of the road, and just as it looked as though he might push her into the oncoming traffic he instead kindly offered to help her cross the street. At another point a group of candy children approached Sweet P after their ball had rolled over to him, and it seemed as though he might crush one of them with his bare hands, until he picked up the ball and simply handed it back to them. Finally, there was an instance in which Sweet P approached Chocoberry with his hand held behind his back, almost though he were hiding a weapon behind it, only for him to reveal that it was actually a handful of flowers that he had picked for her to put into a new vase. This went on for a while, and eventually Bubblegum followed Sweet P all the way to an empty playground where she finally caught up to him.

"Why do you keep following me?" asked Sweet P, frightened as Bubblegum approached. "Am I in trouble? I've been a very naughty boy lately. Are you going to eat me as punishment? Is that why you're so big now? Because you've been eating naughty children like me?"

"I just want to talk Sweet P." said Bubblegum, trying to reassure him. "I know you were there when Peppermint Butler died. I need to know what happened."

"He saw us doing something in the woods." said Sweet P, struggling to remember. "He was going to tell on us, so the _"other"_ me took over and chased after him. When I woke up, he was dead."

"The _"other"_ you?" asked Bubblegum, this statement worrying her. "Is this _"other"_ you making you do bad things?"

"Lately, I've been blacking out a lot." said Sweet P. "Whenever I'd wake up, I'd find out that I did something bad that I don't remember doing. Then I'd get scared and try to hide it so I wouldn't get in trouble."

"How long has this been going on?" asked Bubblegum, afraid of where this was going.

"It started when those big scary monsters attacked." said Sweet P, recalling the day Golb's mutant creations had wreaked havoc on the land. "I hid with my mommy and daddy behind a tree until they went away, but the whole time it felt like they were calling out to me. I did my best to ignore them, but since then it's like something has woken up inside me. When I woke up the next day, I found this weird mark on my tummy."

Sweet P lifted up his shirt to reveal that there was now a strange comet-shaped mark on his torso which had not been there before.

"Strange..." said Bubblegum, getting a good look at the mark. "I feel like I've seen this mark before"

As Sweet P expressed regret for his actions, his subconscious began to recall the events that had led up to the murder of Peppermint Butler and his involvement in it.

* * *

That night, Peppermint Butler had just finishing saying goodbye to Lemongrab when he began heading down the path that cut through the area of the forest where Tree Trunks lived. As he did he noticed a green glow coming from behind the trees, and being the curious youngster that he was he decided to check it out. Following the glow, he discovered that its source was an ominous black cauldron, beside which stood Sweet P, his eyes filled with the Lich's evil glow as he stirred the liquid and chanted magical words of power.

"Hey there Sweet P." said Peppermint Butler, causally walking up to Sweet P. "What are you up to?"

Sweet P's head shot up in surprise, and he immediately walked out in front of the cauldron and attempted to hide it behind his large body.

"Nothing of importance." said Sweet P, his voice mixed with that of the Lich as he tried to cover up what he was doing. "Mind your own business and move along."

"Isn't it a little early for you to be up?" asked Peppermint Butler.

"I would say the same for you as well." said Sweet P, avoiding the question.

"What's that behind you?" asked Peppermint Butler, walking around Sweet P to reach the cauldron. "Wait, are you doing dark magic? I love dark magic! Can I join in?"

"You are mistaken." said Sweet P, attempting to deceive Peppermint Butler. "This isn't dark magic. It's just some leftover stew from last night's dinner."

"There's no need to hide it Sweet P." said Peppermint Butler, smiling and taking on a playful tone. "I know dark magic when I see it, and that right there is definitely dark magic. I never really took you for a fan of the dark arts. We should totally hang out sometime."

"Perhaps another time." said Sweet P, hoping that Peppermint Butler would leave.

"Let me see what you've got so far." said Peppermint Butler. "You'll want to make sure you do it right, otherwise who knows what might happen."

"There's no need for that." said Sweet P, trying to stop Peppermint Butler from looking into the cauldron. "I've already taken all of the necessary precautions."

"Hmm, it seems you did." said Peppermint Butler, congratulating Sweet P as he examined the green ooze in the cauldron.

"Good, now go away." said Sweet P, now starting to lose his patience.

As Peppermint Butler looked into the cauldron one more time, he saw Sweet P's reflection in become that of the Lich, much to his horror.

"Wait a minute, you're not Sweet P, you're..." said Peppermint Butler, realizing what was going on.

"You should have walked away when you had the chance." said Sweet P his voice now fully becoming that of the Lich. "You've just seen something you weren't meant to see."

"You're a bad guy that's up to no good!" said Peppermint Butler. "I'm going to tell my mommy!"

"You will do nothing of the sort." said the Lich, attempting the grab Peppermint Butler as he attempted to flee.

Sweet P chased after Peppermint Butler, determined to silence him before he could alert Princess Bubblegum to his plans. As he ran through the forest he crossed paths with Lemongrab, who he nearly trampled over. Sweet P kept up the chase until they eventually made their way into the dark and quiet streets of the city. Peppermint Butler was the first to reach the entrance to the castle and began climbing the stairs to one of the towers leading to the upper levels. Sweet P took a different route and was able reach the upper levels before Peppermint Butler could and cut him off at the end of the hallway leading to Princess Bubblegum's bedroom. He charged at Peppermint Butler and tackled him to the floor, their struggle becoming violent and leading them out to the tower balcony.

Seeing an opportunity, Sweet P pushed Peppermint Butler off from the edge, but in the process Peppermint Butler grabbed hold of his ankle and threw his balance off, causing Sweet P to fall down with him. As they both fell Sweet P put himself on top of Peppermint Butler and prepared to use him as a cushion to break his fall. Peppermint Butler screamed before hitting the ground, the force of the impact from Sweet P belly flopping on top of him smashing his body to pieces and creating a small creator in the ground. Sweet P got up and looked down at what remained of Peppermint Butler, his personality briefly reverting back to that of his sweet and innocent self, who was horrified by the sight of what he had done.

"Oh no, I've been bad again." said Sweet P, his voice returning to that of a child. "I'm a criminal now."

Afraid of being caught, Sweet P fled the scene and headed down one of the streets, where Dirt Beer Guy was taking out the trash. As he heard Sweet P approaching from behind he began running as fast as he could to escape, jumping into an alleyway to hide. After running through the city for some time Sweet P eventually slowed down and took a moment to sit down and rest at one of the swings in the playground.

"Hello there Sweet P." said Starchy, waving to Sweet P as he passed by on his rounds. "You're up early."

"Hello Starchy." said Sweet P, innocently waving back to him.

When Starchy was gone, Sweet P got up and began heading down the road that led directly out from the city. As he approached the city gates he saw a group of Banana Guards coming out for their morning shift and started to book it, fearing that they would try to arrest him. Sweet P sprinted to the drawbridge at an incredible speed, but failed to notice Ice King and ended up plowing into him.

"Sorry!" said Sweet P, apologizing but continuing to run without looking back.

Before Ice King could process what had just happened, Sweet P had already disappeared from into the forest, running back home and hoping nobody had seen him.

* * *

As Princess Bubblegum continued her questioning of Sweet P in the empty playground, she began to fear that the Lich inside Sweet P had resurfaced once again and was influencing his actions.

"Sweet P, I think the Lich inside you might be acting up." said Bubblegum, acting cautious now. "This could be dangerous. I need you to come with me to my lab so I can run some tests."

"No point in hiding it anymore." said Sweet P, his voice changing to that of the Lich as he took over. "I was hoping to continue this ruse for a little while longer, but unlike these dimwits of yours, you will not be fooled so easily."

"So it is you." said Bubblegum, taking a step back. "How many times are you going to keep coming back? You're like a cockroach that just won't die."

"As many times as I wish, though I have recent events to thank for this sudden resurgence of mine." said the Lich, touching Sweet P's newly healed right horn.

"What are you planning Lich?" asked Bubblegum, remaining steadfast. "Let me guess, wiping out all life on Ooo? Why can't you just leave Sweet P alone?"

"Oh I intend to." said the Lich. "I'm tired of this vessel and its childish whims. I want out."

"I won't let you do as you please." said Bubblegum. "You're going to pay for killing my butler and making Sweet P be naughty."

"And just how will you stop me?" asked the Lich. "You are alone. Your precious comrades won't be here to save you this time. I've made certain that they'll be occupied. It's just you and me now. No Finn, no Jake, no Marceline... and no Billy."

"Then I'll just have to take matters into my own hands." said Bubblegum, preparing herself for battle. "You should know that I'm not the same weak little princess I was when you attacked first the Candy Kingdom all those centuries ago."

"We shall see." said the Lich, glaring intensely at Princess Bubblegum as he prepared for battle as well.

Bubblegum could feel the Lich's intense evil aura beginning to emanate from Sweet P's body, and right away she could tell that she would be in for the fight of her life.

* * *

 **I was originally going to call this chapter Pepper Mort, referencing the death of Peppermint Butler that occurs in it, but I felt that sounded kind of weird and changed it to Whodunit, after the genre of mystery novels, because I thought it would fit more with the mystery element that was present. In the original version of this chapter, which I released before the finale came out, Peppermint Butler was still an adult and I actually had him stay dead after being killed in it. After Peppermint Butler was reverted back to his child form in the show, I started to feel bad about killing him off, especially in the brutal way that it happened in the original version of this chapter, so I toned it down a bit and had Princess Bubblegum put him back together and revive him. At this point in the story he is still a child, much like he was at the end of the show, but he has grown up a little since the end of the Gum War and can even speak again, but he now has the mindset of a child rather than an adult.**


	3. Episode 2: Body Snatchers

Elsewhere in Ooo, Finn, Jake, and Marceline were currently off on an adventure of their own, finding themselves trekking through a dense swamp. Wanting to make sure that they were still headed in the right direction, Marceline decided to check the map which had received earlier, along with an anonymous letter that had prompted this adventure of theirs in the first place.

"Where exactly are we going again?" asked Marceline.

"To find the Lost Treasure of Count Gull-ib-le." said Finn, badly mispronouncing the name. "According to that map and letter we got in the mail yesterday, it's hidden somewhere in these swamps."

"Let me see it." said Marceline, taking the letter and map from Finn to read it.

 _Dear Finn and Jake,_

 _I have recently discovered the location of a hidden treasure known as the Lost Treasure of Count Gullible. It is currently hidden in a cave somewhere within the swamp lands of Ooo, but the cave itself is very dangerous and filled with all manner of traps and hazards, so I'll need the assistance of two experienced adventurers such as yourselves in order to reach it. If you choose to help me in this quest of mine, I'll share some of the treasure with you. On the back of this letter is a map I have drawn to the location of the treasure cave, which I have marked with an X. I will await your arrival at the entrance of the cave, and once we meet up we will proceed inside to find the treasure. I know how much you two love adventures, so I'm certain that you will find this experience both fun and rewarding._

 _P.S. There will be lots of red stuff in the cave as well, so you may want to bring your vampire friend along with you. The more the merrier._

"Gull-ib-le sure is a weird name." said Finn, mispronouncing the name again. "Maybe it's French?"

"I don't know Finn, this seems pretty sketch." said Marceline, examining the terrible handwriting and then turning it over to examine the crude map which had been drawn using crayons. "It sounds way too good to be true, like one of those spam emails you would sometimes get about a prince trapped in some foreign country who needs money and promises to pay you back if you lend him some."

"Seems legit to me." said Jake, taking the letter and map and examining it for himself.

"Even if it does turn out to be fake, what have we got to lose?" asked Finn. "It'll at least be a fun distraction from our daily lives."

"Alright, suit yourselves." said Marceline, shrugging. "I'm just in it for all the red stuff that's being promised."

Putting the letter and map away, Finn, Jake, and Marceline continued their treacherous hike through the swamp lands, entering into a thick forest of mangrove trees.

* * *

Princess Bubblegum and Sweet P now stood several feet apart from each other, their heights matching as they kept their gazes fixed on one another and prepared to do battle.

"So then, shall we?" said the Lich, reaching into Sweet P's pocket and pulling out a glass phial filled with a strange green liquid. "With this potion I've created, I'll finally be able to separate myself from useless this vessel."

"Banana Guards, to my aid!" said Bubblegum, calling out to some nearby Banana Guards.

"Yes Princess?" said the Banana Guards, running to the assistance of their ruler. "What is it?"

"Sweet P has been possessed by the Lich." said Bubblegum. "I need your help to restrain him."

"We'll do our best Princess." said the Banana Guards, surrounding Sweet P on all sides and pointing their spears at him.

"You are too late." said the Lich, holding up the phial. "The wheels of fate have already begun to turn, and you cannot stop them."

The Lich used Sweet P's teeth to pull the cork off from the phial and drank the noxious green potion inside, after which a bizarre and horrifying transformation took place. The Lich's green essence began to spew out from Sweet P's mouth, followed by two ghostly arms reaching out from deep inside him and climbing their way out of his gut, until the Lich's wraith-like spirit had fully emerged from Sweet P's mouth. As if this was not bad enough, the Lich's spirit then set its sights on one of the Banana Guards, entering and possessing it through its mouth. After possessing the Banana Guard, he had it bite another Banana Guard, possessing them as well and fusing their bodies together.

One by one the Lich did this to all the other surrounding Banana Guards as they desperately tried to fight him off, but in the end they all became possessed and fused together into one giant yellow mass. The yellow mass then compressed itself down into a humanoid shape as horn sprouted from its head, taking on a form which somewhat resembled the Farmworld Lich. The comet-shaped mark on Sweet P's torso was now gone, having disappeared after the Lich had left his body, and upon regaining consciousness and seeing this new monstrosity Sweet P became frightened and ran off screaming, leaving Bubblegum behind to face the Lich on her own. Having just watched this take place, Bubblegum hesitated for a moment and could feel herself shaking with fear, suddenly unsure of her ability to fight the Lich. Making the first move, the Lich released a cloud of his death breath into the surrounding area, forcing Bubblegum to run for cover as the entire playground decayed away in an instant.

"No fear, no fear." said Bubblegum, trying to calm herself and strengthen her resolve as she hid behind a tree. "I am the ruler of the Candy Kingdom and the candy elemental, surrounded by my natural element. I have the advantage here."

"Ah, this is more like it." said the Lich, examining his new form. "A body that is my own to control and do with as I will."

"Now that you've left Sweet P and you're back to being hideous again, I won't have to feel bad about destroying you." said Bubblegum, readying her candy elemental powers. "It's a good thing Finn isn't here to see this, because I won't show you any mercy."

Bubblegum fired off a stream of jellybeans from her hands at the Lich, and as she did her body slowly began to fuse and meld with the ground, her humanoid form becoming amorphous and blob-like until it had absorbed the surrounding candy landscape. The ground beneath the Lich began to shake as a gigantic version of Bubblegum rose out from it and towered over the entire city, taking on a form quite similar to the one she had when she had previously lost control of her candy elemental powers. This new transformation of hers was imperfect however, as it had several buildings and even some candy people sticking out from it, many of them terrified and confused. The giant Bubblegum then spread her arms out and began raining globs of pink gum down on the Lich.

"What strange new power is this?" asked the Lich, acting fast and using his death breath to decay the globs of gum before they could engulf and overwhelm him.

"I have become one with the Candy Kingdom." said the giant Bubblegum, her voice booming loudly throughout the city. "The city and its candy people are a part of my body now."

"So to fight a monster you've become one yourself?" said the Lich. "You're no different than me now!"

"I'm nothing like you." said the giant Bubblegum. "I create life, but you exist only to destroy it."

"The elementals are beings of order, and I am a being of chaos." said the Lich. "Our opposing natures make us natural enemies."

The Lich resumed his attack, this time using some of the other magical powers at his disposal. He chanted a magic spell and green flames appeared in his hands, which he then fired at the giant Bubblegum, hitting her body in several places and melting it. Bubblegum was unfazed by this, her injuries quickly healing as she absorbed more candy from the surrounding city to repair the damage. The Lich even managed to sever one of her arms, but after falling to the ground it simply crawled its way back to her and reattached itself to her massive body, making it as though the injury had never even happened. As their battle continued, the remaining candy people who were still in the city began fleeing as fast as possible, frightened by the monstrous new form of their ruler and not wanting to get caught up in the crossfire.

"Run away!" said Starchy, as he fled with the rest of the candy people. "The princess has turned into a monster!"

"Look, your people are afraid of you." said the Lich, laughing. "You've finally shown them your true ugly self as you devour your own kingdom."

"Then let them call me a monster." said Bubblegum. "I can always repair the damage afterwards and make as many new candy people as I need. It's nothing compared to the devastation you brought here all those centuries ago."

All over Bubblegum's gigantic body, many smaller gum-like creatures now began to sprout, detaching themselves and forming into life sized copies of the princess.

"Go forth my children." said Bubblegum, commanding her army of Bubblegum clones. "Destroy the Lich."

The horde of Bubblegum clones all turned in unison and set their sights on the Lich, and realizing that there would be too many for him to handle all at once he fled in search of higher ground. The Lich tried to make his way towards the Candy Kingdom castle, but before he could go inside the Bubblegum clones caught up and swarmed him, forming a massive pile on top of him and attempting to crush him in an embrace of death. Forcing his way through, the Lich used his death breath to destroy some of the Bubblegum clones and create a hole in the pile just long enough for him to escape their grip, after which he made a mad dash for the castle and began climbing the stairs to the upper levels, the Bubblegum clones still hot on his trail. The massive wave of Bubblegum clones came flooding into the castle all at once, breaking the entrance way and causing part of the castle to come tumbling down.

This did not stop them however, as they crawled out from underneath the stones and started to climb up the walls of the castle to reach the Lich. From the highest tower the Lich could see a flood of pink closing in on him from below, and as he tried to back away he ended up stepping between the gazes of two large creatures, who at first he assumed to be statues. One was a pink cat-like creature, while the other was white bird-like creature, and both awoke from their trance to look down at the Lich who now stood between them. As they turned their attention towards him, their faces had an angry look to them, the Lich's presence having just broken their mental concentration. Putting their animosity aside for the moment, the two creatures began attacking the Lich together with their powers, intent on punishing him for interrupting their psychic duel.

"What are these abominations?" asked the Lich, trying to block out their attempts to invade his mind with their psychic powers.

"My candy elemental powers are not the only weapon at my disposal." said Bubblegum. "Science is on my side too. Goliad and Stormo, you must protect the Candy Kingdom from the Lich!"

Goliad and Stormo stopped the Lich as he attempted to jump off the edge of the tower and escape, both of them biting down hard into his body and digging their claws into his back. As this was going on, the Bubblegum clones finally reached the top of the tower and started to swarm the Lich once more, further trapping him and leaving him with no other means of escape.

"These creations of yours won't be enough to stop me!" said the Lich, struggling to break free as the Bubblegum clones drowned him in their pink gum.

"Goliad and Stormo, it pains me to do this, but I command you to self-destruct!" said Bubblegum. "Give your lives for the Candy Kingdom by taking the Lich down with you!"

"You would go so far as to sacrifice them to defeat me?" asked the Lich.

"Any price is worth it if it means destroying you." said Bubblegum.

Heeding her command, Goliad and Stormo began to glow as the energy built up within their bodies, and a few moments later a massive explosion erupted and engulfed the castle in a blinding flash of light. After the dust had cleared, the upper levels of the castle were now entirely gone, leaving only the giant tree sticking out from the top. The explosion had seemingly vaporized the Lich, along with Goliad, Stormo, and all of the Bubblegum clones she had created, and after taking the time to look around Bubblegum found no trace of the Lich and concluded that he was dead.

"Looks like that did it." said Bubblegum, congratulating herself and breathing a sigh of relief. "Hopefully he's gone for good now."

"You're still the same foolish and naive girl as before." said the Lich, his voice echoing within Bubblegum's mind. "Did you really think it would be that easy?"

"It can't be!" said Bubblegum, surprised to hear the Lich's voice. "That should have completely destroyed you!"

"You may have destroyed my physical form, but not my soul." said the Lich.

"Where are you hiding Lich?" said Bubblegum, unable to find where his voice was coming from. "Show yourself!"

"Have you forgotten?" said the Lich. "Focus your attention inward."

Bubblegum focused her attention inward, feeling the Lich's presence emanating from somewhere within her, eventually discovering the source to be a sharp metallic needle-like object embedded deep inside her body.

"How did that get there?" asked Bubblegum, wondering where the strange metal object had come from.

"Don't you remember?" said the Lich, his voice coming from the needle-like object. "You lost the moment you set foot into my lair, or more specifically when that fool Ice King dropped you into my Well of Power."

Bubblegum tried long and hard to remember the events from the day she had fallen into the Lich's Well of Power. It was all still hazy to her, and the only thing she could remember after crawling out of the Well of Power with her half melted body was how painful it was. As she tried to crawl away, she then recalled catching a brief glimpse of the Lich's ghostly essence coming out from his Well of Power, and as it did she felt something sharp prick her before she lost consciousness. Little did she know, the Lich's ghostly essence had carried with it the strange needle-like object that was now lodged deep inside her body, it having been there ever since.

"Even after you freed yourself from my possession, a part of me still remained inside you." said the Lich. "I should thank you for keeping it safe for me all this time, but I'll be taking my phylactery back now."

"So this is your phylactery?" said Bubblegum, realizing what the object was. "The object that houses your human soul and binds it to the mortal world. If I destroy it you'll lose your immortality, then you can finally be killed for good."

"Can you do it though?" asked the Lich, taunting her. "You recognize this object, don't you? I know of the special connection you once had with soul that resides in it. Destroying it would also mean destroying..."

"I know that." said Bubblegum, a hint of sadness in her voice. "That's all in the past now. I won't hesitate this time."

"You already had your chance to destroy it all those years ago, but you were too sentimental." said the Lich. "That mistake will cost you dearly. Now that you've destroyed my body, I'll be needing a new one to replace it. How about I make one from yours?"

"You'll what?" said Bubblegum, not sure if she head him right.

Bubblegum could feel the candy biomass in her giant gum body slowly beginning to gather around the Lich's phylactery, clumping together to form a new body for the Lich while slowly sapping the life away from hers. Disgusted by the fact that the Lich was now growing inside her like a parasite, she desperately tried to claw him out and eject him from her body.

"It's useless to resist." said the Lich. "You will die here, and I will emerge stronger than ever before. Not only will this new body of mine possess all the natural qualities and abilities of yours, but all of your vast knowledge will belong to me as well."

"Get out of my head Lich!" said Bubblegum, feeling the Lich's presence starting to invade her mind and peer into her memories.

"You can't hide anything from me." said the Lich. "I can see everything. All the lies you've told and secrets you've kept, even from your dear Marceline. Are you ashamed of them? Are you afraid of what those precious friends of yours would think if they ever saw the real you? Perhaps I should tell Finn and see what he thinks?"

"You stay away from him!" said Bubblegum. "I won't let you hurt him the same way you hurt..."

"Ah, now I see." said the Lich, taunting her. "He reminds you of _"him"_ , doesn't he? It's the reason why you keep that boy tethered to your side, never letting him get too far away, but never letting him get too close either. You're afraid of history repeating itself. That's why you always pushed him away whenever he tried to show you his love. You know as well as I do that his heart is too pure and righteous for someone like you to ever deserve."

"I'll never understand how there's a part of you that was once human." said Bubblegum, the Lich's words finally crushing her.

"I can promise you this, when I find that boy I will break him." said the Lich. "I will break his spirit so wholly and so completely that he will never smile again. All he will know is crushing despair, until it consumes him whole... then he'll be mine."

As the Lich's new body reached completion, his needle-like phylactery reunited with its master and positioned itself within his right arm, where it was then covered by candy flesh.

"Enjoy your final moments." said the Lich, seeing that his new body was now complete. "Your death will be my rebirth into this world."

The Lich held up his arm, and as he did the needle-like phylactery buried inside it shot out and extended itself like a lance, the Lich using it to slice Bubblegum's body apart from the inside out and causing her an excruciating amount of pain.

"Is this what childbirth feels like!" said Bubblegum, screaming in agony. "It hurts so much!"

As the Lich tore his way through the candy insides of her giant body, Bubblegum could feel herself starting to swell up and inflate like a balloon, the force of the Lich's evil decaying essence pushing outwards from within her.

"Accept your fate." said the Lich. "This world has remained stagnant for far too long, stuck following the same order where nothing ever changes. It's time to break that order."

Realizing that her end was finally here, all Bubblegum could do was think of her friends and how her death would affect them.

"Finn, Jake, Marceline... I'm sorry." said Bubblegum, her eyes filled with tears. "I couldn't stop him. Now you're all going to suffer because of my mistake. I..."

Before she could finish, Bubblegum's giant body exploded, creating a massive shock wave that sent pieces of gum and candy raining down all over the city. When the shower had ended the entire city was covered in pink goo, most of which burned with the Lich's green flames. Among the devastation was a lone glob of pink gum, from which an arm emerged, and then another, and then the creature they belonged to. Out from this glob of pink gum emerged the naked form of the Lich's newly created body, that of a muscular and fully grown man. Because it had been created from Bubblegum's own candy biomass, this new body of his had the same pink skin tone as hers, and on the right side of his torso was same comet-shaped birthmark that had previously been on Sweet P's torso. Perhaps the most striking feature of it had though was its long flowing blood-red hair.

"Interesting, I've never had a body quite like this before." said the Lich, taking a moment to appreciate his new body. "It will serve me well as I carry out my plans."

Looking down, the Lich saw that Princess Bubblegum's crown now lay at his feet, having fallen to the ground after she exploded.

"In the early days of your kingdom, your people would explode whenever they become frightened." said the Lich, picking up her crown and then proceeding to toss it aside like a piece of discarded junk. "How fitting it is that the same fate befalls their ruler in the end as well."

As the Lich walked away, he was suddenly overcome by an intense feeling of nausea and began to vomit. What came out was a small puddle of pink goo, most likely an unneeded leftover of Bubblegum's candy biomass that his new body had expelled.

"Strange, it seems there was something else growing inside her body too..." said the Lich, feeling better as he got up.

The Lich made his way towards the ruined candy castle, not noticing that the pink goo he had just vomited out had now begun to move on its own, sprouting a mouth and eyes as it formed into a tiny blob-like creature and disappeared into a crack in the ground.

* * *

 **If this were an actual season of Adventure Time, you could consider these first two chapters to be like the season premiere, which is usually two episodes that air together at the beginning of each season. From the interaction and dialogue between Princess Bubblegum and the Lich in this chapter, it is quite obvious that the two of them have some sort of past history together, which will be explored later on in the story when the time comes.** **In the original version of this chapter, Sweet P had actually died when the Lich had him drink that potion, and it caused his body to become monstrous and grotesque. Since Sweet P was shown to be alive in the future in the Adventure Time finale, I changed this aspect of the story to where the Lich simply uses the potion as a means of freeing his spirit from Sweet P's body, and plus I kind of feel bad about killing off someone so sweet and innocent.**

 **Speaking of deaths, when looking back at the season eight episode Orb where Finn had that dream that all of Princess Bubblegum's teeth fell out, you could kind of see that as retroactive foreshadowing to her death in this chapter. In many cultures from around the world, there is a common superstition that dreaming about teeth falling out, either yours or someone else's, is an omen of death. If it hurts when the teeth fall out in the dream, it means that someone close to you will die, but if they do not hurt when they fall out it means the person who will die will not be someone close to you. This would not be the first time that Adventure Time has incorporated cultural beliefs about dreams into its plot. In many Native American cultures, the owl is often seen as a messenger of death, and in the season three episode The New Frontier Jake has a dream about Cosmic Owl which he believes is a prophecy of his death.**

 **Okay, so I should probably explain what exactly a phylactery is, since some of you might be wondering how the Lich was able to survive being destroyed and then regenerate himself from Princess Bubblegum's body. To put it simply, a phylactery is a magical object that an undead sorcerer or wizard, such as a lich, uses to house their soul after separating it from their body. By creating a phylactery, the soul of the lich becomes anchored to the mortal world, thereby granting them a form of immortality. As long as their phylactery remains intact the lich will never truly die and is able to keep coming back and creating new bodies for themselves if their previous body gets destroyed. The only way to defeat a lich for good is to destroy their phylactery, which will cause them to lose their immortality and allow you to kill them for good. Because it is their one weakness, a lich will often go to great lengths to hide and protect their phylactery to ensure that this will not happen.**

 **With this in mind, it is highly likely that the Lich from Adventure Time could also have a phylactery hidden away somewhere that contains his real soul. Since it has not been found and destroyed yet, this could be the reason why the Lich is able to keep coming back and possessing new bodies. In the case of this story, the Lich's phylactery was a magical needle hidden inside his Well of Power, and when Princess Bubblegum fell into it and crawled out in the season two episode Mortal Folly, the Lich saw this as the perfect opportunity to move it to a new hiding place, and he put it inside her body as his ghostly essence possessed her. Even though Princess Bubblegum was eventually freed from her possession by the Lich, his phylactery remained within her body, until now when the Lich finally retrieved it and used her candy biomass to create a new body for himself.**

 **I know what some of you may be thinking and yes, a phylactery is basically like a horcrux from Harry Potter, although the rules surrounding them are a bit different. The main difference is that a horcrux involves splitting off pieces of your soul, while a phylactery involves removing your entire soul from your body. The idea of the horcrux was actually inspired by the phylactery, and has appeared in several stories in the fantasy genre before Harry Potter.** **As for the Lich's phylactery itself, it has the power to magically grow or shrink at will, allowing him to expand and retract it into either a sword or a lance whenever he summons it from his arm. It is basically like the Lich's own version of Finn's Grass Sword, possessing similar abilities and housing a soul inside it too, his own. From this point on whenever the Lich uses his needle-like phylactery as a weapon, I will refer to it as the Needle Sword.**


	4. Episode 3: Farewell Bonnibel

The Lich stood knee-deep in pink goo, trudging his way to the candy castle in the aftermath of his battle with Princes Bubblegum, still fascinated by his new body.

"Am I... alive?" asked the Lich, noticing that he now had a pulse and heartbeat. "It's been so long that I had forgotten the feeling."

"Why don't you stop and enjoy it then?" asked a voice inside the Lich's head, which belonged to Bubblegum. "Maybe you'll like it."

"You're still here?" asked the Lich, surprised to hear Bubblegum's voice. "Just pass on already."

"You may have killed me, but that body of yours was once a part of me." said Bubblegum. "A piece of me lives on through you now, as messed up as that sounds. Don't think you've won just because I'm dead. Sweet P's will was only that of a child, but mine is far stronger. Strong enough to suppress yours!"

"What are you doing!" said the Lich, feeling Bubblegum's residual will enter his mind. "Do you intend to drag me down with you to the afterlife?"

"Before I go, I'm going to permanently seal you away inside this body using the last of my candy elemental powers." said Bubblegum. "It may not be the best solution, at least your evil will be rendered inert."

"You're only delaying the inevitable." said the Lich, falling to his knees as Bubblegum's will overshadowed his. "Fate will always find a way..."

Little by little the Lich could feel his consciousness slipping away as he desperately fought to maintain his individuality, but Bubblegum's will soon overpowered his and their two consciousness began merging together to form a new being. When he finally lost his mental battle, the Lich fell face first onto the ground and blacked out.

"With me gone, you must take my place as ruler of the Candy Kingdom." said Bubblegum, her voice fading away as her soul passed on. "Now go forth into this world and experience all that life has to offer, my son..."

A few moments later the Lich's new body awoke, but the one in control was neither Bubblegum nor the Lich, but rather a new being that was an amalgamation of the two. This newly christened son of Princess Bubblegum stared blankly at his surroundings, taking in his first sight of the world.

"Where did you go mother?" asked Bubblegum's son, speaking with a new voice and a more expressive personality. "Are you dead?"

Wondering what he should do now, Bubblegum's son spotted the massive tree sticking out from the top of the half-destroyed candy castle. Feeling drawn to it for some reason, he walked over to the tree and found an entrance in the side of its trunk where a set of stairs led down into it. As he approached the stairs, he could smell the stench of rotten bananas in the air as he passed by a trio of elderly Banana Guards who now lay dead. He continued climbing down the stairs until he eventually reached a room filled with a red liquid, in the center of which was a large pink gum-like creature that resembled a deformed dragon. The creature sucked on the roots of the tree, and from its body poured the same red liquid which filled the room. He went in for a closer look, but as he approached it the creature quickly noticed him and became frightened, letting go of the roots and backing away into the corner of the room.

"It's alright, I won't hurt you." said Bubblegum's son, reaching out to touch the creature on the head. "For some reason, I feel an odd kinship with you that I just can't explain. I think my mother wanted me to come check on you. Your name, it's Neddy is it?"

Neddy slowly began to calm down, the soothing touch of his hand seeming to put him at ease. Neddy felt as though he could trust him, his scent being very similar Bubblegum's scent and was unable to tell the difference.

"It must be quite lonely down here." said Bubblegum's son. "Why not come back to the surface with me? Let's go experience the outside world together."

This piqued Neddy's interest and he followed Bubblegum's son back outside to the city, completely unaware that the pink goo which now covered it was all that remained of his sister. Now that he was out of his usual cramped environment, Neddy began stretching his body, and then feeling hungry he started to eat some of the pink goo off the ground. As he took in its nutrients his body changed and morphed, most notably his tiny wings growing to a more proportionate size.

"Do you like it out here?" asked Bubblegum's son. "There's plenty more to see just beyond the horizon. Come Neddy, let's leave this wretched place behind. We're both free to spread our wings and go wherever we wish. You need not fear this world as long as you are with me."

Bubblegum's son proceeded to climb onto Neddy's back, after which the gum dragon began flapping his powerful new wings and took off into the sky.

"First I'll need to find some clothes." said Bubblegum's son, feeling the wind blowing up against his naked body. "I can't stay naked forever."

As Neddy and the Bubblegum's son disappeared into the horizon, the candy people in the city below looked up at them in awe, not sure what to make of the situation.

* * *

Finn, Jake and Marceline were now on their way home, their treasure hunting adventure having been a disastrous failure. Finn was now wearing only his shirt and underwear, having been forced to take his pants off and carry them in his hands because he had gotten mud all over them.

"Well that was an epic fail." said Finn, holding up his muddy pants. "The guy was a no-show, and the only thing waiting for us was a giant mud hole for me to fall into. Now my pants all muddy and smell like swamp butt."

"It looks like you pooped in them." said Marceline, pointing to mud spot on the back of the pants. "Just like that one time you pooped your pants at my house and had to use my shower to get cleaned up. You were so embarrassed you made me promise never to tell Bonnie about it."

"I remember that!" said Jake, laughing. "He doesn't even care that you know, but the thought of Princess Bubblegum finding out is like the end of the world to him."

"Marceline and I are really close." said Finn. "We share all kinds of embarrassing secrets with each other."

"Speaking of secrets, what's with that weird birthmark on your butt." said Marceline, pointing out a strange comet-shaped mark on Finn's right butt cheek. "Has that always been there?"

"Yeah, ever since I was born." said Finn. "It kind of looks like a flaming sideways teardrop."

"Maybe it's a sign from the cosmos." said Jake. "You are a comet boy after all."

Upon exiting the forest, the three now found themselves in the grasslands where Finn and Jake's tree house had once stood, the tree which had sprouted from the seed left behind by Fern now standing in its place. Beside this new Fern tree was the pond of the Water Nymph's, and across from it was a large wooden house which Finn and Jake had built using remnants and leftover building materials from their destroyed tree house.

"Here we are." said Finn, showing Marceline his and Jake's new home. "Home sweet home."

"For real?" asked Marceline. "You guys could live anywhere you want now, but instead you chose to build a new house right next to where your old one used to be?"

"This place just holds too many memories." said Finn, walking up to the doorstep. "Fern would get lonely too, being out here all by himself. Huntress Wizard sometimes comes over to keep him company."

Finn pointed over to the Fern tree on the other side of the pond, where Marceline saw Huntress Wizard sitting in the shade beneath it, watching them from afar.

"Woah, I didn't even notice her." said Marceline, surprised that she had failed to notice Huntress Wizard on their way to the house. "She just blends in so well."

"It might sound look like she's talking to herself, but she's actually talking to Fern." said Finn, waving to Huntress Wizard. "She can talk to trees and plants, so she's the only one here that can understand what he's saying."

"She's like our bilingual translator, fluent in both people-speak and tree-speak." said Jake, Huntress Wizard waving back to them.

Despite its mismatched and cobbled together appearance, the inside of Finn and Jake's new home had a pleasant and comfy atmosphere to it. Scattered throughout the two-story house were various items that had once been in the tree house, which they had since collected and stored there. Their home also had some additional inhabitants in it as well, such as BMO, Neptr, and Shelby.

"I'll be right back." said Finn, climbing upstairs to his bedroom. "I need to go change."

While Finn was busy changing, Jake and Marceline sat on the couch in the living room waiting, and as they did the sunlight shining in through the windows suddenly went dim for a few seconds, as though a cloud had just passed in front of the sun. Despite the sky having been completely clear on their way there, Jake and Marceline thought nothing of it, until Huntress Wizard came inside with a confused look.

"Just when you think you've seen it all..." said Huntress Wizard.

"What happened?" asked Jake, now curious.

"Some butt-naked guy on a pink dragon just flew over your house." said Huntress Wizard.

"Did you say a pink dragon?" asked Finn, coming back downstairs with a new pair of pants.

"Yeah, pink like cotton candy." said Huntress Wizard. "It came from the direction of the Candy Kingdom too."

"That was Neddy!" said Finn. "He must have gotten out again."

"This has happened before?" asked Huntress Wizard.

"Yes, but minus the butt-naked guy." said Finn. "Wait, you said there was someone riding him? Who was it?"

"I don't know." said Huntress Wizard. "I didn't recognize them."

"This doesn't sound good." said Marceline. "Should we go after Neddy?"

"He's probably long gone now." said Huntress Wizard. "It won't be easy to track him down."

"Then let's go find Bonnie and see what's up." said Finn. "Something must have happened."

Finn, Jake, Marceline, and Huntress Wizard immediately took off for the Candy Kingdom, wondering what sort of events could have led to such a strange occurrence.

* * *

After spending some time flying through the skies of Ooo and enjoying his newfound freedom with Bubblegum's son, Neddy eventually swooped down to land in a clearing where there was a large outdoor market, the same which Finn and Jake often frequented. The crowds of people backed away from the large pink dragon in fear, but were also stunned by the sight of the naked pink man who climbed down from its back. They pointed and stared at the clueless naked man, with one shocked mother even covering the eyes of her child. Bubblegum's son was perplexed by their reactions, completely unaware of the social stigma surrounding his shameless display as he stopped at a stall manned by Choose Goose.

"My goodness have you no shame!" said Choose Goose. "Covering up should be your aim."

"That's why I'm here." said Bubblegum's son. "Where can I buy some clothes?"

Choose Goose pointed him to a stall further down from his that was selling clothes, and after browsing through its selection he eventually decided on a red outfit and hooded cloak. After setting a few coins down on the counter to pay for them, Bubblegum's son tried on his new clothes.

"This will just fine." said Bubblegum's son, admiring his clothes as he walked back to Neddy. "They even match my hair."

Bubblegum's son then climbed back onto Neddy's back and they took to the skies once more, leaving for parts unknown as Finn and his friends rushed to the Candy Kingdom, unaware of what had become of their friend Princess Bubblegum.

* * *

Finn, Jake, Marceline, and Huntress Wizard reached the Candy Kingdom right as the sun was setting, only to find it completely covered in goo, much of which had begun to decay and turn black. They went in for a closer look, and as they reached the outskirts of the city they found many of the surviving candy people huddled together in traumatized groups. Some of the candy children on the other hand did not quite seem to understand the situation, and instead were playing around in the goo though it were snow, throwing it at each other and even laying down in it and making angel figures.

"What is all this?" asked Finn, approaching Starchy. "Did one of Bonnie's experiments go wrong?"

"I didn't see." said Starchy. "I was too busy running for my life, but Sweet P over there says he saw the whole thing up close and personal."

Finn next went over to see Sweet P, who was curled up into a ball and crying as Tree Trunks and Mr. Pig attempted to comfort him.

"Hey there Sweet P." said Finn, speaking to him in a gentle tone. "Starchy tells me you saw the whole thing. Can you tell me what happened?"

"It was the _"other"_ me." said Sweet P. "He did this."

"The _"other"_ you?" asked Finn. "You don't mean..."

"He's been making me do naughty things lately." said Sweet P. "He made me drink some nasty potion that let him come out like an evil burp. Then he and the big pink lady turned into monsters and started fighting. The pink lady won, but then she exploded everywhere."

"The Lich did all this?" asked Finn, surprised to hear of his return. "If he lost, does that mean he's dead? What about you Sweet P? How do you feel right now?"

"I feel... good actually." said Sweet P, taking a moment to realize how different his body felt now that the Lich's spirit was no longer there. "I think it's because the evil burp left."

"Letting out a big burp feels good doesn't it?" said Finn, rubbing Sweet P's stomach. "So what happened after that?"

"After that some naked pink guy showed up and flew off with Neddy." said Starchy, filling in the rest of the story. "Probably for parts unknown."

"That must have been the butt naked guy Huntress Wizard saw riding on Neddy." said Finn. "This is bad. Without Neddy, the Candy Kingdom is finished."

"Wait a minute, so where's Bonnie?" asked Marceline, having overheard Finn and Sweet P. "Don't tell me she's dead!"

As they spoke, the young Peppermint Butler desperately searched for Bubblegum, unaware of the fate that had befallen his mother.

"Where's my mommy?" asked the young Peppermint Butler, crying. "I can't find her anywhere!"

The full implications of Sweet P's account of events finally set in and hit Finn like a bombshell, and as he looked around he came to the realization that the pink and black goo all around them was what remained of Princess Bubblegum.

* * *

Finn, Jake, and Marceline spent the next few days helping the candy people clean up the mess left behind by Princess Bubblegum's battle with the Lich, disposing of all the blackened goo by burning it to prevent the Lich's lingering essence from spreading any further. Due to how corrupted and decayed Bubblegum's remains had become, it would be impossible for them to revive her by sticking the pieces back together as they had done the previous time she had been possessed by the Lich. Only a single piece of gum remained untouched by the Lich's evil essence, which the candy people decided to hold a funeral for. The funeral took place on the shores of Butterscotch Lake, where a large wooden boat was constructed to serve as the funeral pyre for their ruler. It was here that Finn, Jake, Marceline, and many of their friends from across Ooo had gathered with the candy people to pay their final respects to Princess Bubblegum and say their goodbyes.

"And so at the age of 830 the life of our beloved Princess Bubblegum has come to an end." said Colonel Candy Corn, having just finished reading her eulogy to the crowd. "Even at her worst she always did her best to guide us with wisdom and compassion. Our stupidity and ignorance would often her patience to no end, but now it's time to finally let her rest."

With that the funeral boat was set adrift onto Butterscotch Lake, and after reaching a far enough distance from the shore Finn lit an arrow and handed it to Huntress Wizard, who fired it at the boat and set it ablaze. The candy people all began to weep as the flames engulfed the boat, playing a musical salute for their fallen ruler, and once the ceremony was over the crowds all dispersed and went home.

"Don't worry little Pep But." said Lolly, holding the young Peppermint Butler's hand. "You can live with me now."

"Okay Aunt Lolly." said Peppermint Butler, sounding happy at the thought.

"We're going to have so much fun together." said Lolly, smiling. "You love helping me bake, don't you? You can be my little helper."

The young Peppermint Butler already seemed to be over his mother's death as he left with Lolly, and once they were gone only Finn, Jake, and Marceline remained. Finn was still sitting at the shore of Butterscotch Lake, holding Princess Bubblegum's crown in his hands and looking down at it with a blank expression. Marceline walked over and sat down next to him, wrapping her arm around him and quietly pulling him in for a hug.

"Come on Finn, let's go home." said Jake, joining Finn and Marceline.

"I can't believe she's gone Jake." said Finn, still frozen in disbelief. "I knew she wasn't going to live forever and that she'd die someday, but I never thought she'd be the first one of us to go. Not like this. It still doesn't feel real to me..."

"I can't believe it either Finn, but you can't stay here forever." said Marceline, helping Jake pull Finn up to his feet. "Guess we'll just have to drag you home then."

Marceline and Jake held Finn up by his shoulders and began to drag him away, his feet hanging limply behind him and leaving a trail in the dirt as they went home.

* * *

The next day Finn found himself walking alone in the forest, still trying to come to terms with the fact that Bubblegum was now dead.

"How could this have happened?" asked Finn, speaking out loud to himself. "If only I had been there for you, then maybe I could have done something to stop it."

Finn turned and spotted a dead tree nearby, and his mind immediately hallucinated an image of the Lich on it.

"This is all your fault." said Finn, grabbing a stick and angrily bashing the tree with it. "You couldn't defeat me, so you decided to hit me where it would hurt the most instead! You're a coward Lich!"

After the stick broke Finn fell to his knees, slumping his head against the trunk and beginning to cry.

"I was supposed to be your champion, but I wasn't there when you needed me most." said Finn, finally letting out all the tears he had been holding back. "How can I call myself a hero now?"

Finn laid down on his back and looked up at the clouds in the sky, which to his eyes now resembled Princess Bubblegum.

"I know, I'll ask Prismo to bring you back." said Finn, a thought coming to him, but then immediately realizing the problem with it. "No, that won't work. I already used up my one wish, and even if I did wish you back it might donk something else up instead. There really is nothing then. You're gone forever..."

As Finn continued to look up at the sky, the clouds eventually burst and rain started pouring down, the water droplets hitting his face as he lay there on the ground.

* * *

Several days had passed since Princess Bubblegum's funeral, and Finn had now fallen into a deep depression, one in which he did not even have the energy to leave his bed.

"Finn, lunch is ready." said Jake, climbing upstairs to their bedroom. "Come get it while it's still hot."

"Go ahead and eat without me." said Finn, his voice weak and monotone as he held Princess Bubblegum's crown close to him. "I'm not hungry."

"But I even made caramel apples for dessert." said Jake. "When is the last time you ate anyway? You look like you've lost a few pounds."

"I can't stand caramel anymore." said Finn, turning over to face the other way.

"What?" asked Jake, surprised. "You used to love caramel."

"Do you even know where caramel comes from Jake?" asked Finn. "You get caramel when you burn sugar. That's all I could smell the whole time that boat was burning on the lake. It makes me sick to my stomach now whenever I smell it. I don't think I'll ever be able to eat caramel again."

"Oh, I see..." said Jake, understanding. "I'll just eat yours then so it doesn't go to waste."

"This all happened because I insisted we go on that stupid treasure hunt." said Finn. "Why didn't I listen to Marceline? If I had, then we could have been there to stop the Lich."

"Don't say that Finn." said Jake. "How were we supposed to know he'd come back and do something like that?"

"Looking back on it, it's so obvious what we should and shouldn't have done." said Finn, now beginning to tear up. "They call that hindsight bias."

"Come on Finn, don't do that." said Jake, seeing that Finn was about to cry. "If you start crying, then I'm going to start crying too."

Jake fought back the urge to cry as he watched Finn start to cry, but then he began to cry as well.

"It's not your fault Finn." said Jake, hugging Finn and crying with him. "We'll get through this. I don't know how, but we'll manage somehow, just like we did when mom and dad died."

As Finn and Jake hugged it out, Huntress Wizard stood outside their bedroom window, quietly watching them with a sad look on her face, unsure of what she could do to help. She jumped down from the roof and walked over to the other side of the pond where the Fern tree was, and noticed that there was sap leaking from its bark in various places.

"Are you crying too?" asked Huntress Wizard, putting a hand on the tree. "It must be even worse for you since you don't have a Jake. Go ahead and let it out. You don't have to worry about them hearing you ugly cry."

Huntress Wizard sat down with her back against the tree and brought her knees up to her face.

"What should I do?" asked Huntress Wizard, feeling useless. "I'm not good with emotional stuff like this. It's too much for me, that's why I usually avoid it. Stuff like plants and animals, they're simple and easy to understand. That's why I get them. The human heart though is another story. It's far too complex for a simple creature like me to fathom. I've only been in your lives for a small fraction of the time she was, so I have no idea what that princess meant to either of you. I can't help him the same way I'm able to help a simple forest creature like you. This is a wound he'll have to heal on his own, though seeing him in this a pitiful state... it's like watching a flower wilt and die."

The road to recovery after losing Princess Bubblegum would be a long and difficult one for Finn and his friends, but for now they would need some time to mourn.

* * *

 **Some of you who have been reading this story since the very beginning may have noticed that this chapter was originally two separate chapters titled The New Lich and Farewell Bonnibel, but due to how short they were I decided to combine them together into one chapter for the sake of simplicity. To clarify, this new character that is walking around right now is neither Bubblegum nor the Lich, but a new being that is the result of their residual wills merging together. He is a brand new individual that is completely unique from either of them, possessing his own thoughts and feelings. You could think of him as being like a bastard child of Bubblegum and the Lich, which is a really weird and messed up way to view it.**

 **Since he is basically like a hybrid of Bubblegum and the Lich and possesses qualities and traits from both of them, you can expect this to effect his judgment and how he reacts in certain situations. In some situations he might be more inclined to do something that Bubblegum would do, while in other situations he might be more inclined to do something that the Lich would do, so there is no telling what he might suddenly decide to do. He has inherited many good and bad traits from both Bubblegum and the Lich, so it will be interesting to see how this shapes his character as the story progresses.** **How Bubblegum's son came into existence is similar to how Sweet Pea did when the blood of the Citadel Guardian touched the Lich and turned him back into a human, which temporarily suppressed his evil and changed his personality. The candy biomass that the Lich had taken from Bubblegum to make his new body did something similar, but a part of Bubblegum's will remained in it, resulting in most of the Lich's destructive tendencies being suppressed and changed into something less harmful.**

 **Another contributing factor to the unique personality of Bubblegum's son is the presence of the Lich's phylactery within his body, which contains the Lich's former human soul. Being in close contact with his original soul has affected the Lich to the point that is now causing him to regain some of his lost humanity. In a way, Bubblegum's son is like a reverse version of Fern, in that he is a good copy of an evil person rather than an evil copy of a good person, both having been created from a weapon which houses a soul inside it. Another point of note that will be of importance later on in the story is the comet-shaped birthmark that Bubblegum's son has on his chest, which is the same one that Finn has on his right butt cheek, hinting at a shared destiny between the two involving the Catalyst Comet. In the season seven episode Crossover Finn mentions to his Farmworld self about having an embarrassing birthmark shaped like a flaming sideways teardrop in a really weird place, and this is it.**

 **In the original version of this chapter, when Finn, Jake, and Marceline came back from their failed adventure they arrived at the tree house, but since the tree house was destroyed in the finale I changed it to being a house that Finn and Jake built near where the tree house used to be, across the pond from where the Fern tree is now. This house is not another tree house, but an actual proper house. In the season five episode Davey, Finn was able to build an entire house all by himself right outside the tree house, so it should be relatively easy for Finn and Jake to do the same with the leftover building materials from their destroyed tree house. Having them build a brand new house instead of just using the nearby Fern tree to rebuild their old tree house has some symbolic significance as well. Tree houses are often associated with childhood and adolescence, so Finn and Jake living in a real house now instead of a tree house can be seen as the beginning of Finn's transition into adulthood.**

 **On a final note regarding Finn, I tried to make the emotions he went through in this chapter seem realistic and believable. Throughout the chapter, Finn basically experiences the Five Stages of Grief, those stages being Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and finally Acceptance. You saw Finn go through the first four, and he will likely still be feeling them to some degree in the chapters that follow, but the final stage, acceptance, is something that will take him a while to reach. These past three chapters may have been somewhat of a dark and depressing start to the story, but do not let that put you off just yet. Not every single chapter in this story is going to be like this. The events of these three chapters were necessary to set up the main plot and establish the main conflict that is to come.**


	5. Episode 4: Crimson King

Princess Bubblegum's son went on to spent the next few weeks of his life traveling the land of Ooo with Neddy, discovering more about his newfound identity and what it meant to be alive as he found himself endlessly fascinated with the world around him. During his travels he had even developed a hobby of adventuring and exploring dungeons in search of treasure, and along the way had met and befriended an odd assortment of colorful characters, the strangest among them being Maja the Sky Witch. After her death in the Gum War, Maja had somehow managed to return to the world of the living, and due to an odd set of circumstances the two had been forced the two to work together to overcome the challenges of a unique dungeon. As a result of their experience together, Maja had formed a somewhat favorable opinion of Bubblegum's son, and after leaving the dungeon had invited him over to her house.

"You know I never cared much for you mother Princess Bubblegum, but I guess you're alright." said Maja, reluctantly thanking him for his help.

"I'm glad I could be of assistance." said Bubblegum's son. "Besides, fighting through that dungeon with you and Ellie was the most fun I've ever had."

"Oh yes, it was quite the adventure..." said Maja, blushing. "I felt like a young witch again."

"Hey Maja, there's something I've been meaning to ask you." said Bubblegum's son. "Ellie said you died and came back to life. Is that true?"

"Oh, that..." said Maja, recalling the incident.

Maja thought back to the day she had exploded after being hit by an emotional supercharge from Betty shortly after waking up from her coma, having a brief flashback of the events as she recounted them to Bubblegum's son.

" _Finally, my time..._ " said Maja, exploding shortly afterwards and then being sent to the hellish landscape of the Nightosphere as her afterlife destination, much to her dismay. " _Noooooooo!_ "

"So you died and went to the Nightosphere?" asked Bubblegum's son. "Isn't that where bad people go when they die?"

"Some of them." said Maja. "But that was like the tenth time I've died and gone there, so it's no big deal."

"Tenth time!" asked Bubblegum's son, surprised to hear this. "How do you keep coming back to life?"

"When you're an old witch that's been around as long as I have, you're bound to make some powerful allies." said Maja, smiling. "Let's just say I'm good friends with the Devil himself..."

"Have you ever thought of changing your ways?" asked Bubblegum's son. "For you to keep being sent to the place where all the bad people go whenever you die, that must be a sign you're doing something wrong."

"That's what I keep saying, but she never listens!" said Ancient Psychic Tandem War Elephant, chiming in.

"Shut up butt face... or is it face butt?" said Maja, taking a moment to realize that Ancient Psychic Tandem War Elephant did not have a butt, but rather a second face in place of one. "I won't apologize for who I am. Sometimes you've gotta be mean to make it in this cruel world. That's why I turned to magic. It was the only choice I had if I wanted to survive during those chaotic early days of Ooo, but unfortunately it came with a price..."

"Did you lose something important along the way?" asked Bubblegum's son, noticing a hint of sadness and regret on Maja's face. "Could that be why you're so obsessed with collecting objects with strong sentimental energy? Because you're trying to get back what you lost?"

"That's ancient history now." said Maja, avoiding the question. "No use dwelling on the past. What's done is done. Anyways... your help today was much appreciated."

"Best of luck to you then." said Bubblegum's son, turning around and preparing to leave. "If you ever find yourself in need of an ally, just give me a call."

"Wait, before you go, I'd like to read your fortune." said Maja.

"My fortune?" asked Bubblegum's son, intrigued by Maja's request. "Why the sudden interest?"

"It's that mark on your chest." said Maja, pointing to the comet-shaped birthmark underneath his shirt. "I've seen a mark like that before. They say it's a sign from the cosmos that foretells your destiny. Throughout history, there are many tales of people who have been born with just such a mark; people who have gone on to do great things, or terrible things."

"What does this mark say about me then?" asked Bubblegum's son, now curious.

"Let's find out." said Maja, reaching out and grabbing his hands.

As she did, images of the past, present, and future began flashing into her mind, and finally the terrifying image of the Lich appeared, causing Maja to jump back in fear.

"Are you alright?" asked Bubblegum's son, worried by Maja's reaction. "What did you see?"

"It seems you are destined for something great after all." said Maja. "You'll set in motion a chain of events that will change this world in a big way, for better or for worse, however a dark shadow lurks within you as well. Be wary when pursuing of your grand ambitions, otherwise they might just go up in flames."

"I'll keep that in mind. " said Bubblegum's son, considering Maja's words. "Now, I bid you both farewell."

Bubblegum's son walked over to the edge of the cloud on which Maja's house was situated and let out a whistle, and few moments later Neddy appeared from behind a nearby cloud.

"Farewell son of Bubblegum." said Ancient Psychic Tandem War Elephant, watching as Bubblegum's son jumped onto Neddy's back. "May we meet again someday."

"So this is your new form?" said Maja, speaking to herself as she watched Bubblegum's son fly off with Neddy, remembering the image of the Lich she had seen in his fortune. "To think that's really you, my old nemesis..."

After leaving Maja's house, Bubblegum's son disappeared below the clouds with Neddy, heading down to the surface in search of their next great adventure in Ooo.

* * *

Bubblegum's son now wandered through a forest with Neddy, contemplating what he should do next as he played around with the Needle Sword, summoning and retracting it from his arm over and over again. Despite his newfound freedom he was beginning to grow bored, each new experience leaving him feeling less and less satisfied than the last. He now desired ever greater things in life, but each time he obtained them it only made him want more. He freedom and friends, but it still felt as though something were missing. As he thought long and hard about what he truly wanted, he inspired and the urge to sing overcame him.

 _All around me I see, this world filled with wonder_

 _I've traveled its lands, both near and far._

 _Seen and done it all, yet still I do ponder_

 _Where will this journey take me, under a mountain or over a star?_

 _With freedom I roamed, searching far and wide_

 _Despite all I've gained, what I desire eludes me still_

 _Can anything help me, to stem this tide?_

 _Where will I find it, in a lake or by that hill?_

As he finished his song Bubblegum's son reached the edge of a cliff, looking down into the green valley below and spotting an old half-sunken building at the foot of a hill, the sign on its entrance reading _"Library"_. A large gathering of people appeared to be taking place there, and a banner which read _"Princess Day"_ hung from the side of the building. Bubblegum's son approached the library and went inside, curious as to what this whole Princess Day event was about. Within the meeting area of the library he saw that many of the princesses from across Ooo were there listening to a speech given by the host of the event Turtle Princess, now known as Turtle Queen due to her marriage to the new Ice King Gunter.

He took a seat near the back of the room and quietly listened with great interest as the princesses discussed current events, including the recent death of Princess Bubblegum and the ripple effects it would have throughout Ooo. He was so focused on the speech that he did not realize that his feet had begun to fidget, resulting in him accidentally knocking over a large flagpole in front of him. The loud crash it made when hitting the floor caused all the princesses in attendance to jump, after which they turned to face Bubblegum's son with an awkward silence.

"And just who are you?" asked Turtle Princess, addressing Bubblegum's son. "I don't remember seeing you on the guest list."

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize this was a private event." said Bubblegum's son, apologizing as he picked up the flagpole and stood it back up. "My curiosity got the better of me. If you don't mind me asking, what's this whole event even about?"

"This is the annual Princess Day." said Turtle Princess. "A yearly event in which princesses from all across Ooo gather to discuss diplomacy and current events. Only registered princesses are allowed to attend."

"My mother was a princess." said Bubblegum's son. "Does that count?"

"Then that would make you a prince." said Turtle Princess.

"What!" said Wildberry Princess, gasping. "A prince!"

Upon hearing this, many of the princesses began leaving their seats to go get a closer look, a prince being a rare sight in Ooo.

"Out of my way." said Lumpy Space Princess, pushing her way through the crowd. "Oh my glob, I've never seen a real prince before!"

"What kingdom are you from?" asked Hot Dog Princess.

"I don't have one." said Bubblegum's son.

"But if your mother is a princess, then wouldn't your kingdom be the same as hers?" asked Breakfast Princess. "Who is your mother?"

"My mother was Princess Bubblegum." said Bubblegum's son.

The princesses all went silent for a moment and began to whisper among themselves, shocked by the revelation.

"Princess Bubblegum had another son?" asked Slime Princess. "Since when? This is the first I've heard of it."

"Bonnibel kept a lot of secrets, even from her own people." said Flame Princess. "This shouldn't really come as a surprise."

"If you are indeed her son, then that would make you royalty, so this meeting concerns you as well." said Turtle Princess. "Have a seat and we'll fill you in."

Bubblegum's son sat back down and continued listening to the meeting, taking note of everything that was said. The parts of the meeting that fascinated him the most though were all small mundane things he learned about the various kingdoms of Ooo and how each princesses governed them. When the meeting was over, the princesses once again gathered around Bubblegum's son, eager to speak with him so more.

"Your hair is so pretty." said Raggedy Princess, playing with his hair and braiding it. "I've never seen a red color like this before."

"You're so handsome!" said Lumpy Space Princess. "Will you marry me!"

Soon after Lumpy Space Princess, the other princesses all began expressing their affections for him as well, bunching up around him and asking if he would return with them to their kingdoms.

"That's it!" said Bubblegum's son, coming to a realization. "I've figured out what I want most in the world."

"What would it be?" asked Wildberry Princess.

"Is it a queen?" asked Slime Princess.

"Will you choose one of us to be yours?" asked Raggedy Princess.

"What I want is... a kingdom of my own!" said Bubblegum's son, his answer not quite being what the other princesses were expecting.

"But you already have a kingdom." said Breakfast Princess.

"I do?" asked Bubblegum's son, stopping to think for a moment. "Oh that's right, I do! The Candy Kingdom!"

"You mean you didn't know that?" asked Breakfast Princess. "Since you're the son of Princess Bubblegum, doesn't that mean the Candy Kingdom would go to you now that she's dead?"

"Oh no, I've been neglecting my duties as a ruler!" said Bubblegum's son, now remembering the sorry state he had left the Candy Kingdom in. "I must return at once! My people need me!"

Bubblegum's son immediately got up and left the library, taking off down the road.

"Wait, come back!" said Lumpy Space Princess, chasing after him. "Was it something I said?"

After disappearing behind a cluster of hills, Bubblegum's son appeared with Neddy and the two soared off towards the direction of the unsupervised Candy Kingdom.

* * *

Back in the Candy Kingdom, things had not been going so well since the death of Princess Bubblegum. Although the damage to the city had been mostly repaired, the only thing left to fix being the destroyed upper levels of the candy castle, the candy people now lived in borderline poverty. With no ruler to govern them and no candy lifeblood to sustain their city, the duty of keeping things together in crumbling Candy Kingdom had fallen to Lemongrab, who despite his best efforts could only do so much while also having to maintain his own kingdom at the same time. Try as he might he would not be able to keep this forever, and very soon the Candy Kingdom would collapse entirely if something was not done to change it. All hope seemed lost for the candy people, but little did they know a savior would soon arrive. As they wallowed in their despair, the clouds parted above the city to reveal a man on a pink dragon, both surrounded by a heavenly light as they landed within the ruined candy castle.

"Home at last." said Bubblegum's son, surveying the city below.

"Who are you?" asked Lemongrab, approaching Bubblegum's son with a crowd of candy people.

"Worry not citizens of the Candy Kingdom, your prodigal son has returned to guide you." said Bubblegum's son, addressing the candy people.

"Prodigal son?" asked Lemongrab, confused.

"As the son of Princess Bubblegum, I will now take her place as ruler of the Candy Kingdom." said Bubblegum's son. "You may call me... Crimson King."

Bubblegum's son then held out his hands and a geyser of red liquid sprayed out from them, the same liquid which had once flowed from Neddy's body, bringing joy to the impoverished candy people.

"Has Glob sent us a savior?" asked one of the candy people, mesmerized by the display.

"You won't have to live like this much longer." said Bubblegum's son. "As your king, I will bring the Candy Kingdom into a new age, one where we will no longer be dependent on a single resource for survival."

The crowd of candy people erupted with cheers and applause, happy that order and stability would soon be restored to their kingdom by a new ruler.

"Finally, I can go home now." said Lemongrab, breathing a sigh of relief now that someone else had come to take the reins from him. "Good luck. I'm outta here."

The candy people were enamored with their new ruler, lifting him up into the air and carrying him over to his throne in the candy castle, where they set him down.

* * *

Over the next few days, the Candy Kingdom experienced several changes as a result of its new ruler Crimson King taking the throne. Not only were the candy people enthralled by him, but people from other kingdoms had begun flocking to the Candy Kingdom to meet their new Candy King as well, captivated by his charismatic personality. News of Crimson King and his exploits quickly spread throughout Ooo, and it was not long before it reached the ears of Finn and Jake. As Finn and Jake sat on their couch playing video games on BMO to down their sorrows, Neptr entered the living room with a collection of various items and memorabilia imprinted with a red comet-shaped insignia.

"Where did you get all that stuff Neptr?" asked Jake, taking notice of Neptr's collection. "Is there some kind of festival going on?"

"I got it from the Candy Kingdom." said Neptr. "They're celebrating the coronation of their new Candy King."

"New Candy King?" asked Finn, intrigued by this. "What's he like?"

"I saw him other day." said BMO. "He's so charismatic and charming. Everybody loves him."

"A new ruler just shows up out of nowhere after Bonnie dies, and suddenly everyone loves him?" asked Finn, finding this suspicious. "Something tells me this has King of Ooo written all over it. You think we should go check it out Jake?"

"Beats staying in here all day long." said Jake. "Anything to get us out of the house."

Finn and Jake both jumped at the chance for a new adventure, stepping outside for the first time in weeks to go visit the Candy Kingdom and meet its new ruler.

* * *

Upon reaching the Candy Kingdom, Finn and Jake were surprised to find that it had changed significantly since the last time they were there. Banners which bore the same red comet-shaped insignia as the one on the items Neptr had showed them now hung throughout the city, and after asking around they were directed towards the candy castle, which was in the process of repairs to fix the damage to the upper levels. It was there that they came face to face with the Candy Kingdom's new ruler Crimson King, who sat on his throne while Neddy slept peacefully behind it.

"Woah, is that Neddy?" asked Jake, surprised to see Neddy's larger size and wingspan. "When did he get so big?"

"Ah, you must be Finn and Jake." said Crimson King, greeting them. "I was wondering when you two would show up."

"You sound like you've been expecting us." said Finn. "Are you this new Candy King everyone's been talking about?"

"Yes, I am Crimson King." said Crimson King. "I welcome you to my castle."

"Your castle?" asked Finn, looking around and finding only ruins. "Doesn't look like much of a castle to me. You don't even have a roof over your head."

"I need no roof." said Crimson King, raising his hand towards the sky. "For the time being, the sky itself shall be the roof of my castle."

"That's one way of looking at it I guess." said Finn, shrugging.

"Have you come to pledge your loyalty to me?" asked Crimson King. "Your skills and talents will be of great use to my kingdom."

"Sorry, but the only ruler I serve is Princess Bubblegum." said Finn, rejecting the offer. "I was her champion, and hers alone.

"All the more reason for you to join me then." said Crimson King. "I am her son, so it would only make sense."

"Her son?" asked Finn, confused. "Bonnie never had any children, at least not that I know of..."

"I was born the day she died." said Crimson King. "In a sense you could say I was... born yesterday."

"He does have that same sugary sweet smell as Princess Bubblegum." said Jake, sniffing the air around Crimson King.

"Are you sure your nose is working right Jake?" asked Finn, not convinced.

"Wait, I smell something else too." said Jake, examining Crimson King's scent more closely. "It's faint, but I think I also smell... the Lich!"

"The Lich!" said Finn, jumping back from Crimson King. "Is this another one of his disguises Jake?"

"He doesn't have the horns, but that's definitely him under there." said Jake.

"So he did it again..." said Finn, his rage suddenly beginning to seethe as he grabbed a rapier from a nearby weapons rack. "He killed Bonnie, and now he's wearing her body the same way he wore Billy's!"

Finn charged at Crimson King with the rapier, but he was too quick and nimble, managing to avoid the attack by jumping up from his throne and landing right behind Finn.

"So you wish to do battle with me?" asked Crimson King, the prospect exciting him. "I've been waiting for a worthy opponent to test my skills on."

Crimson King summoned the Needle Sword from his arm, the blade emerging from his palm in a similar manner to Finn's former Grass Sword as it magically grew to the length of a sword.

"Mathematical." said Finn, momentarily finding the transformation cool. "It's just like my old Grass Sword, but metal."

"Need any help Finn?" asked Jake, preparing to jump in. "This looks like it could turn get ugly."

"Stay back Jake." said Finn. "I'll be the one to avenge Bonnie."

Finn charged at Crimson King again and the two clashed swords, Jake watching their duel from the sidelines. Finn had the upper hand at first, but the tables quickly began to turn as Crimson King adjusted to Finn's fighting style, and soon he was dancing circles around him.

"I'm going to make you pay for what you've done." said Finn, starting lose his patience. "You son of a..."

"If I'm the son..." said Crimson King, cutting him off. "Then what does that make Princess Bubblegum?"

"Ouch, he got you there Finn." said Jake, feeling the sting of Crimson King's comeback.

"Right back at you." said Crimson King, pointing the Needle Sword at Finn.

As soon as he did, the Needle Sword suddenly grew to the size of a lance, catching Finn by surprise and barely giving him enough time to push it away with his rapier as it pierced the wall behind him.

"No fair." said Finn, seeing that the Needle Sword had chipped his rapier. "Your sword is magic."

"You're the one who challenged me to this battle, and now you're complaining about it?" said Crimson King, retracting the Needle Sword back to the size of a sword.

Seeing an opening as he retracted the blade, Finn ran straight at Crimson King, leaping through the air and coming down at him with his rapier. He slashed him right down the middle with a deep cut, the blade of his rapier breaking off at the handle and becoming stuck in Crimson King's body.

"Cheap piece of junk..." said Finn, looking down at the broken handle of his rapier.

Crimson King did not seem fazed by Finn's attack at all, simply staring back at him with a blank expression.

"Is that the best you've got?" asked Crimson King, sounding disappointed. "That barely hurt."

"Are you serious!" said Finn, shocked that Crimson King showed no signs of pain despite having a blade lodged in his body.

"My body is made from the same malleable gum-like substance as my mother's was." said Crimson King, the slash wound from the blade now starting to close up and heal. "This is nothing to me."

Crimson King then flexed his body, causing the broken blade to shoot out and nearly slash Finn in the face as it flew by him and impaled itself into the wall.

"What are you?" asked Finn, watching as the slash wound on Crimson King's body finished closing up.

Finn came at Crimson King again, this time biting him in the leg with his teeth in a move of desperation. As this was going on, a crowd of candy people slowly began to gather to watch the fight.

"Eww, he tastes like black licorice!" said Finn, releasing his bite on Crimson King's leg after finding it disgusting.

"So this is what you've resorted to?" asked Crimson King, sighing as he tried to pull Finn away from his leg.

"Give her back..." said Finn, still clutching onto his leg.

"What?" asked Crimson King, not sure what Finn meant.

"Give her back!" said Finn, beginning to tear up. "Give Bonnie back you monster!"

"Haven't you heard already?" said Crimson King, finally managing to pull Finn away from his leg. "She's dead. Just stop it already. You're making a fool of yourself in front of everyone."

It was then that Finn noticed the crowd of candy people surrounding them, many of them now booing at him, viewing Finn as the aggressor in the situation.

"Why are you attacking our king Finn?" asked one of the candy people. "What did he ever do to you?"

"You don't understand!" said Finn, addressing the candy people. "He's secretly the Lich in disguise! He's probably planning something really evil!"

"The Lich isn't planning anything." said Crimson King. "I am neither the Lich, nor Princess Bubblegum. I am Crimson King, a new and perfect being that embodies both their qualities."

"You're just jealous Finn." said another one of the candy people. "You were always Princess Bubblegum's lackey, and now that she's gone you probably want the throne for yourself."

"I don't want the throne!" said Finn, becoming frustrated with the candy people. "I'm trying to save all of you!"

"Well we don't need you to save us." said another candy person. "We were doing just fine today before you showed up."

The more Finn tried to reason with the candy people, the more they refused to listen. As they continued to berate him for his actions, Finn slowly began to lose his morale, and eventually just gave up.

"Fine then, be that way." said Finn, tossing aside the broken handle of his rapier. "From now on, I quit being the champion of the Candy Kingdom. Do whatever you want Crimson King. I don't care anymore."

Finn stormed off and left the candy castle disgraced and defeated, feeling as though he had once again failed as a hero.

"What are we gonna to do Finn?" asked Jake, following him. "There's gotta be some way to make them see the truth."

"We're not doing anything Jake." said Finn. "If the candy people don't need me anymore, than the Crimson King can be their new champion too. I'm sure he's more than capable of handling things all by himself."

"But you've had this job for so long." said Jake. "Are you really okay with just quitting like this?"

"Sometimes we just have to accept that things change." said Finn, sighing. "We won't always like the person who steps in to fill the shoes of those we love, even if they're related. Maybe it's time I move on and do something else with my life."

"If that's what you want." said Jake, accepting his decision. "Man, it always sucks when a good thing ends..."

Finn left the Candy Kingdom with Jake and went home, saddened by how things had turned out and how its people no longer seemed to need or want him anymore.

* * *

 **This here was my first attempt at trying to make an Adventure Time song. Since I am not very talented at music myself, it probably turned out pretty basic compared to some of the other great songs from the show, being more like poetry than an actual song. Then again, it is hard to have a story about Adventure Time without including some type of song in it, since music is such a big part of the show. In my head I had imaged the tone and atmosphere of the song as being somewhat similar to the song sung by Jack Skelington in the movie Nightmare Before Christmas when he discovers the other holidays and visits the Christmas village for the first time. The friendship between Bubblegum's son and Neddy also kind of reminds me of the movie Pete's Dragon, which is a really old and obscure Disney movie about a boy with an indivisible dragon companion that only he can see, and there were a few scenes in it where they sing together.**

 **This chapter also marks an important moment for Finn's character arc by having him renounce his position as champion of the Candy Kingdom, it serving as part of his transition into adulthood because it can be applied to certain real life situations, particularly in regards to employment. There are times in life where you might really like the boss you work with, but then a change in management happens where you end up with a new boss that you really hate. You can adjust and learn to deal with it, but sometimes the work environment becomes so toxic as a result of the new boss that the best thing to do in that case might be to just move on and find a different job. This is shown in how Crimson King has taken Princess Bubblegum's place as ruler of the Candy Kingdom, but rather than continuing to serve as champion of the Candy Kingdom under him, Finn instead just decides to quit and move on with his life.**

 **Also, you may have noticed that a certain character is now back, Maja the Sky Witch. In the original version of this chapter I had released, Crimson King had helped Ancient Psychic Tandem War Elephant nurse Maja back to health, and after she wakes up from her coma she befriends Crimson King for his assistance. In the finale though, Maja ends up dying shortly after waking up from her coma, or possibly ends up being teleported away to somewhere, like Betty was at the end of Elements. I was actually kind of disappointed with how they handled Maja in the finale. It felt like the plot line involving her and Ancient Psychic Tandem War Elephant was building up to something big, but I guess the writers just did not have time to properly wrap it up so they opted to kill her off instead because it was easier. I had some really interesting ideas in mind for things I could do with Maja in this story and I still want to use her, so I thought of an interesting way to bring her back that is not too crazy and fits with her character as a witch.**

 **In the context of this story, Maja did die when she blew up in the finale, but she did not stay dead. After she died she was sent to the Nightosphere as her afterlife destination, for reasons which will be revealed later in the story. You would think that being sent to what is basically the Adventure Time equivalent of Hell would make someone repent for their sins, but not Maja. Rather than serving as a punishment for Maja, dying and going to Hell is more of an inconvenience to her, which is pretty hilarious to think about. Every time she comes back to life she just goes right back to doing what she did before, never learning her lesson from the experience. Being a powerful witch, you can bet that Maja is allied with all sorts of dark powers from the Nightosphere, much like Peppermint Butler was, which is how she is able to escape so easily. Throughout history and in numerous works of fiction, witches have often been associated with the Devil, selling their souls to him or some other demon in exchange for power or immortality. The specifics behind how Maja is able to keep coming back from the dead and who these dark powers helping her are is something that will come into play later, but you might already have some idea as to who this "Devil" she mentioned is.**


	6. Episode 5: Growing Pains

In the months following Crimson King's ascension to the throne, the Candy Kingdom was quickly returned to its former glory, the city itself now standing in pristine condition. With the damage to the castle fully repaired, Crimson King sat on his throne and listened as one of his candy advisers reported the current progress of their new construction projects. Crimson King was certain that after taking the throne he would finally be satisfied, but once again this was no longer enough for him.

"And that concludes our latest inventory of candy building materials." said the candy adviser.

"Tell me, what more can we do to improve this tiny kingdom?" asked Crimson King, sounding bored as he played around with a candy cane.

"Whatever do you mean sire?" asked the candy adviser. "The kingdom is already running at peak efficiency."

"I've come so far in so short a time." said Crimson King, feeling dissatisfied with himself. "Surely this can't be the peak of my achievements? There has to be something beyond this. I just know there is."

"What else could there possibly be?" asked the candy adviser. "We've come as far as we can as a kingdom."

As the sun shone through the windows of his throne room, Crimson King held out his hand and watched as the sunlight passed between his fingers, and as he did the answer finally came to him.

"As a kingdom..." said Crimson King, an idea coming to him. "There's only one thing greater than a kingdom."

"What is it?" asked the candy adviser, curious as to where he was going with this.

"An empire." said Crimson King, pointing to a map of Ooo on a nearby table with the candy cane in his hands. "It's the next logical step. The only thing left for me now is Ooo itself."

"Ooo itself?" asked the candy adviser, not sure he heard him right. "Surely you jest my lord."

"I'll be more than a king." said Crimson King, completely serious. "I'll be an emperor, and as emperor I'll unite all of Ooo under one banner. No one has ever attempted such a feat before. I'll be the first. I'll bring peace, prosperity, and happiness to the people of Ooo. Once I've accomplished that, I think I'll finally be satisfied knowing that I've reached the absolute peak of my achievements, by having left the world a better place than I found it."

"That's quite an ambition." said the candy adviser, moved by Crimson King's words. "Is it even possible?"

"We shall see." said Crimson King. "Summon the council. We have much to discuss before we begin laying the foundations of our empire."

Crimson King got up and began making his way to the castle meeting hall, awaiting the arrival of his advisers and generals to which he would announce his plans.

* * *

Having decided on his new goal of forming an empire, Crimson King set about annexing and absorbing the surrounding kingdoms of Ooo into the Candy Kingdom. His conquest was for the most part bloodless, succeeding through a combination of wit, charm, and strategy, the princesses of the other kingdoms being easily swayed by his words and promises. In exchange for swearing loyalty to Crimson King and agreeing to pay tribute to him, the princesses were allowed to retain their status as rulers of their respective kingdoms, which were now considered vassal states of the Candy Empire. The only kingdoms in Ooo that remained independent of his rule were the Slime, Fire, and Ice Kingdoms, which for the time being Crimson King had decided to avoid, these being the only other kingdoms in Ooo with the power to challenge his rule. Inside the meeting hall of his castle, Crimson King oversaw the latest meeting between his generals, advisers, and vassals, which included Lemongrab, the Duke of Nuts, Colonel Candy Corn, Rattleballs, Lolly, and even the young Peppermint Butler, who sat in Lolly's lap the entire time.

"With the vast resources we've accumulated through tribute, we'll finally be able to bring the Candy Kingdom into a new age." said Crimson King, going over a set of blueprints. "Here we will build a new city to serve as the capital of our great empire, a city inhabited by people from all across Ooo."

"This is way different than how Gumbald planned to go about it." said Lolly, impressed the design. "With this we'll truly make the world a better place to live in."

"Unfortunately though, not everyone shares this vision." said Crimson King, pointing to a map of Ooo divided into four regions. "With my mother gone, the power dynamic between the four elemental kingdoms has begun to shift. We're not the only ones with ambitions. Recently, a militaristic faction led by Princess Blargetha has taken root in the Slime Kingdom, and they too seem to want a piece of the pie. They've started annexing territory of their own and have become increasingly aggressive towards us, even going so far as to raid some of our outposts at the border."

"I say we take the fight to them!" said Colonel Candy Corn. "The Slime Kingdom is always looking down their noses at us, thinking they're all that. It's time someone taught them a lesson."

"Bad idea." said Lemongrab, recalling the incident from several months ago when the elementals had lost control over their powers. "The Slime Kingdom is not like the others we've conquered so far. It's ruled by an elemental, just like the Ice and Fire Kingdoms. Their powers are not to be taken lightly."

"So what if they have some fancy powers?" said Colonel Candy Corn. "We can't just let the Slime Kingdom walk all over us like this."

"While it's true that the elementals are a force to be reckoned, Colonel Candy Corn has a point." said Crimson King, agreeing with both of them. "There are times where we'll have to flex our muscles a bit if we want to show the other kingdoms we mean business."

As they continued to discuss the matter of the Slime Kingdom's recent aggression towards the Candy Empire, a candy messenger came bursting into the room.

"I come bearing an urgent message from the Breakfast Kingdom!" said the messenger, almost sounding out of breath.

The candy messenger handed a scroll to Crimson King, whose eyes widened with shock as he read it.

"What's going on?" asked the Duke of Nuts. "Did something happen?"

"Things have now escalated." said Crimson King. "The Slime Kingdom has invaded the Breakfast Kingdom and claimed it as part of their territory."

"They've gone too far this time." said Rattleballs. "The Breakfast Kingdom is one of our vassal states. Invading it constitutes an act of war."

"We cannot ignore this." said Crimson King. "The Breakfast Kingdom has sworn it's loyalty to us, so we must come to their aid. Colonel Candy Corn, prepare your forces. We're going to take back the Breakfast Kingdom."

"I'll have them ready by morning." said Colonel Candy Corn, getting up to begin preparations.

Everyone else followed suit and left shortly after, Crimson King walking over to the balcony of the meeting room to observe the sun setting over Candy Kingdom.

* * *

Crimson King and his forces arrived at the outskirts of the Breakfast Kingdom the next day, finding it occupied by forces from the Slime Kingdom who had torn down all of his banners in an act of defiance.

"It appears we have greater numbers and the element of surprise." said Crimson King, assessing the situation. "Commence the counterattack!"

The candy army charged into the Breakfast Kingdom, taking the Slime Kingdom occupation force by surprise. After a brief but intense battle, they were quickly overwhelmed and forced to abandon their hold on the city, fleeing back to the Slime Kingdom.

"They're retreating!" said Rattleballs, announcing their victory to the rest of the candy soldiers. "Our supply of coffee and breakfast muffins is secure!"

"It's not over yet." said Crimson King. "The Slime Kingdom will likely try something like this again in the future. If we are to have peace and stability, we must nip this in the bud while we still can. The Slime Kingdom must be pacified!"

Following his command, Crimson King's army began marching their way through the desert lands of Ooo, eventually stopping at the slimy green pool which served as the entrance to the Slime Kingdom. One by one they entered the pool, emerging from it into the subterranean kingdom where they were met with further resistance from the slime army. Crimson King stood at the helm of his forces, his presence boosting their morale and allowing them to push further onward and cut a path through the Slime Kingdom. After reaching the royal palace he made his way to the throne room, where he found Blargetha and Slime Princess, along with Elder Plops and several other slime soldiers and officials.

"I have come to put an end to the Slime Kingdom's aggression." said Crimson King. "Surrender peacefully to our terms, and we won't have to resort to using more drastic measures."

"We'll never surrender!" said Blargetha, defiantly stepping forward. "You just want to conquer the Slime Kingdom and make us part of your empire."

"If I'm not mistaken, isn't that the same thing you've done by deposing your sister as ruler of the Slime Kingdom?" asked Crimson King. "The reason I seek to conquer Ooo is for a noble cause, but you're only doing it for the sake of your militaristic ambitions."

"You can sugarcoat it all you want, but at the end of the day you're no different than me." said Blargetha, calling Crimson King out on his hypocrisy. "You just happened to start before I did, and think that somehow makes you more legitimate. It seems everyone wants to rule the world these days, so it might as well be someone beautiful like me."

"A vile blob like you is unfit to rule Ooo." said Crimson King, feeling the slightest bit of agitation. "The one worthy of that honor is an Ubermensch such as myself."

"There's only room for one supreme ruler in Ooo, so one of us has got to go." said Blargetha, gesturing to the slime soldiers in the room. "Guards, kill him!"

The slime soldiers all charged at Crimson King with their spears, leaving him with no other choice but to fight back.

"It's a shame it had to come to this Blargetha." said Crimson King, opening a mysterious bag attached to his hip. "You and I could have made powerful allies had you chosen to align yourself with me, but now for the sake of peace in Ooo, you must die."

Crimson King reached into the bag and pulled out a handful of salt, which he proceeded to throw at the slime soldiers, and one after another they all began to melt away and dissolve, screaming in pain as they did.

"Oh no, it's salt!" said Elder Plops, quickly backing away. "He knows our weakness! But how?"

"A witch told me." said Crimson King, smiling. "Don't worry, there's plenty here for all of you."

Crimson King pulled out another handful of salt and threw it at Blargetha, prompting Elder Plops and the other slime people in the throne room to flee for their lives.

"Save yourself Nora!" said Blargetha, calling out to her sister as she melted away into a green puddle. "Use the sword. It's our only hope now..."

With Blargetha and the rest of the slime soldiers in the throne room dead, Crimson King now turned his attention towards Slime Princess.

"Blargetha this is all your fault!" said Slime Princess, tears in her eyes as she too began fleeing from the throne room. "I knew this would happen once you took over!"

"Where are you going Nora?" asked Crimson King, chasing after Slime Princess with a deranged look on his face. "If you wish to avoid the same fate as your sister, then you must surrender to me."

"You're a monster!" said Slime Princess, trying to put some distance between herself and Crimson King. "I'll never let you have the Slime Kingdom!"

Slime Princess desperately slithered away as fast as her tiny body would allow, the chasing leading her to the furthest depths of the Slime Kingdom, where she came to the ruins of a heavily fortified bunker from the time of the Great Mushroom War. Crimson King followed her inside, and after climbing down a set of metal stairs he found himself in a large underground cavern where there was a lake of slime with a small rocky island at the center. There he once again caught sight of Slime Princess, now making her way towards the rocky island where an ancient sword was impaled in the ground. Following her to the island, Crimson King could hear a faint humming echoing throughout the cavern, much to his confusion, as there seemed to be no one else there except for him and Slime Princess.

"You're quite fast for a little green blob, I'll give you that." said Crimson King, finally catching up to her.

"Don't come any closer." said Slime Princess, struggling to lift the sword with her short stubby arms and pointing it at Crimson King. "If you do, I'll use this."

"And what's that supposed to be?" asked Crimson King. "Some ancient trinket?"

"This is the Wind Sword." said Slime Princess. "A magical weapon once wielded by the hero Billy. For centuries it has rested here in the depths of this cavern, where we slime people have kept it safe. With its power, I'll defend my kingdom from you."

"I see, fascinating..." said Crimson King, the humming from earlier now growing louder as they spoke, making it impossible to ignore. "What's that humming? Don't you hear it?"

"I don't hear anything." said Slime Princess, frantically waving the sword around. "Come on, work you stupid sword! Obey me and use your powers to defeat him!"

"Does the sword have a will of its own?" asked Crimson King, the sword now catching his interest. "I think it's rejecting you."

The sword remained inactive and did nothing, Slime Princess throwing it to the ground in frustration. Resorting to her elemental powers now, she held up her arms and shot a stream of slime at Crimson King, sending him flying across the lake.

"Following me down here was a big mistake." said Slime Princess, smiling confidently. "This lake is the Primordial Slime that gave birth to the first slime people after the Great Mushroom War. My powers will be at their strongest here."

Slime Princess began to merge with the lake of slime, her body growing in size and taking on an appearance similar to the one she had when she had previously lost control over her elemental powers. With her slime elemental powers now fully under her control and surrounded by her natural element, Slime Princess summoned several slime-like appendages from the lake and used them to grab Crimson King. Reacting quickly, Crimson King summoned the Needle Sword and extended it into its lance form, slicing them apart before they could reach him, only for them to reform seconds later. They quickly overwhelmed him and pulled him into the lake, where Slime Princess engulfed Crimson King with her large slime body.

"Are you going to drown me?" said Crimson King, gasping for air as he tried to escape. "Release me at once!"

"I'm not going to drown you, I'm going to assimilate you into my body." said Slime Princess. "This way I'll be able to put a stop to your conquest, and have you all to myself..."

"No, it can't end like this!" said Crimson King, beginning to panic as a deep primal fear overcome him. "Dying the same way I was born!"

Crimson King thrashed about in a desperate attempt to escape his assimilation, and as he did he felt a strange power suddenly begin to well up inside him. Not sure what it was or where it came from, he did not question it and instead called upon it to save him. In response to his determination to live, green flames shot out from around his body and an evil black mist left his mouth, causing the slime that made up the gelatinous body of Slime Princess to rot and turn black. Slime Princess screamed out in pain as her body slowly melted away, Crimson King eventually being freed from his prison and released back into the lake. Gasping for air, he quickly swam towards the rocky island, the lake now filled with the blackened and decayed remains of Slime Princess.

"Disgusting creature." said Crimson King, his voice sounding like that of the Lich for a brief moment.

The crown of the fallen Slime Princess now lay on the island, not far from the sword she had dropped earlier.

"What a magnificent blade." said Crimson King, picking up the sword and appreciating its beauty. "It's a shame they've kept it hidden away in this filth."

Holding up the sword, Crimson King once again heard the humming echoing throughout the cave, this time sounding much closer, almost as though it were coming from the sword itself.

"Are you the one creating that melody?" asked Crimson King, holding the sword up to his ear. "If you can sing, then can you speak? What is your name?"

In response to Crimson King's question, the large blue gem embedded on the guard of the sword began to glow, a sign that it acknowledged Crimson King and accepted him as its new master.

"So you are called Fragarach, the Wind Sword." said Crimson King, seemingly able to understand what the sword was saying, as if it were speaking to him telepathically. "Alright Fragarach, show me your true power!"

Eager to test it, Crimson King made several slashes, and to his surprise found that each one produced a powerful gust of wind. The force of these winds were enough to form waves in the lake and momentarily part it down the middle. Amazed by its capabilities, Crimson King continued to test them, discovering some of its other wind based abilities. He found that he could use sharp gusts of air to cut with precision, produce deafening shockwaves that could blast away everything around them, form inescapable vacuums that would pull in all the surrounding air, and even create miniature tornadoes and whirlwinds.

"Perhaps it was fate that I find you Fragarach!" said Crimson King, enthralled by its power. "Truly you are a weapon fit for an emperor!"

Satisfied with his new weapon, Crimson King left the underground bunker, proclaiming victory over the Slime Kingdom and planting his banner in the ground. With the death of the Blargetha and Slime Princess, the Slime Kingdom was officially annexed into the Candy Empire, its people now becoming subjects of Crimson King.

* * *

 **Some of you longtime readers may remember that this chapter used to be called The King Who Has Everything, mirroring the title of the season six episode The Prince Who Wanted Everything. That name was a little too long for my liking, so I decided to change it to Growing Pains instead, which I feel fits much better, especially in regards to Crimson King's attempts at expanding his new empire. With this chapter, we are also starting to see some of Crimson King's less savory traits rising to the surface, such as his arrogance and thirst for power. At first glance it may seem like his desire to conquer Ooo is a result of the Lich's influence on him, but this is actually something that comes from Princess Bubblegum. At the end of the Elements miniseries, Princess Bubblegum tried to turn everyone into candy people and unite them under her control, thinking they would all be happier this way. Crimson King's desire to bring peace, prosperity, and happiness to Ooo by conquering and uniting it under one banner is a subconscious reflection of what Princess Bubblegum had attempted to do. Another trait worth noting is that Crimson King seems to have a phobia of being eaten alive, a fear which likely stems from the circumstances surrounding his birth, this phobia of his being much like Finn's fear of the ocean.**

 **As for the Wind Sword that was introduced in this chapter, I picture it as having the exact same design and appearance as the sword from the Adventure Time logo, which I am surprised never appeared in the show itself. Its name Fragarach is a reference to the sword Fragarach from Irish mythology, being the sword wielded by the god Lugh that granted him the ability to control the winds. Some have pointed out that Finn could be a reference to the Irish mythological hero Finn MacCool, but I believe Finn might actually share more in common with Lugh. When it comes to references to mythology in Adventure Time, Lugh has some pretty interesting parallels to Finn, and if we take a closer look the similarities are striking.**

 **First off, Lugh was known for his status as a warrior, hero, and adventurer, just like Finn was, and he was sometimes referred to as Lugh of the Long Arm due to his skill with a sword and spear, which somewhat hearkens back to when Finn's Grass Sword grew in length and attacked the Farmworld Lich in the season seven episode Crossover. Lugh was a sky god that was often associated with the sun and had long blonde hair, much like Finn does, and also like Finn he had a connection to comets, which were seen as a sign of his presence.** **Lugh also had a faithful dog companion named Failinis, similar to how Jake is Finn's loyal dog companion. Another similarity between Finn and Lugh is that Lugh's foster father was the sea god Manannan, which could be a parallel to Martin Mertens, whose name mirrors that of Manannan, Finn's connection to the ocean as a baby possibly being a reference to Manannan's status as a sea god. You could think of Crimson King as being kind of like a foil to Finn's character, both of them mirroring each other in several ways and sharing many things in common, one of them being their connection to the god Lugh, while also differing in several other ways.**

 **Speaking of Crimson King's character, I noticed that he seems to share a lot of similarities with the character Griffith from the anime and manga series Berserk. In Berserk, the main antagonist Griffith is depicted as a very beautiful man that charms everyone around him with his charismatic personality. He does this throughout the story and gains more and more power as part of his goal to become king and obtain a kingdom of his own, which he eventually does, but even that is not enough to satisfy him and he then sets his sights on uniting all the lands under one banner. Griffith was also reborn into human form in a similar manner to how Bubblegum's son was born, and the main character of the story Guts, who is a one-armed swordsman like Finn, is the only one who is aware of Griffith's true nature and knows that on the inside he is basically evil incarnate. King of Ooo may have been a scumbag, but at least it was clear to us what his intentions were. It is people like Griffith that you should truly be wary of.** **Another way of looking at Crimson King would also be to view him as a representation of what would have happened if Lemonhope had decided to embrace his role as ruler and return to guide his people instead of abandoning them so he could wander Ooo instead, so in a sense he is like a reverse Lemonhope.**


	7. Episode 6: Baby Gumdrop

Finn tossed and turned as he slept, having a dream in which he found himself in an abandoned version of the Candy Kingdom from the far future. The massive tree at its center was now long dead, Cosmic Owl perching on its branches and watching him from afar. Finn wandered the ruins of this desolate candy city until he eventually came across Princess Bubblegum, who looked much different than she had before. Her skin and hair were now faded in color, giving her an aged and weathered appearance like that of an old piece of gum.

"I'm back from the dead Finn." said Bubblegum, calling out to Finn, her crown laying at her feet. "Come to me my hero. I've missed you so much."

Finn immediately ran over to Bubblegum and hugged her as tightly as he could, happy to see her again.

"I've missed you too Bonnie." said Finn, crying tears of joy. "I promise I'll protect you this time, no matter what."

"Protect her from what?" asked a voice, which belonged to the Lich. "She's dead Finn. I killed her."

Bubblegum's face then began to melt away, revealing the face of the Lich underneath.

"Not you again!" said Finn, disappointed to see the Lich. "Why won't you just stay dead?"

Finn tried pushing him away, but found that he had become stuck to Bubblegum's body.

"Still finding this boring Finn?" asked the Lich, mocking him. "Am I still too basic for you?"

The rest of Bubblegum's body melted away and liquefied, draining into a large crack in the ground.

"Why did you have to kill her?" asked Finn. "What did she ever do to you?"

"You've failed her Finn." said the Lich, taking on the form he had possessed when Finn first encountered him. "You're no hero..."

The Lich reached out and grabbed Finn by the throat, and the last thing he saw before everything went black was Cosmic Owl fly down from the tree and landing next to the crack in the ground.

* * *

Waking up from his nightmare, Finn let out his signature high pitched scream that he often did in moments of great distress.

"Come on Finn, again?" said Jake, Finn's screaming having woken him up. "How many times are you going to keep doing that?"

"I had that dream again Jake." said Finn, sitting up in his bed. "The one where Bonnie turns into the Lich and tries to kill me."

"Finn, I know you miss her and all, but this has to stop." said Jake. "Princess Bubblegum died months ago. You've got to move on already."

"I don't know if I can Jake." said Finn, laying back down and staring up at the ceiling. "How do I move on from something like this?"

After trying for several minutes to go back to sleep and finding himself unable to, Finn got up and began to wander the house, eventually making his way to the roof where he laid down to look up at the stars. No matter where he looked though, all Finn could see were images of Princess Bubblegum in the night sky, causing him to look away in frustration.

"What's the matter buddy?" asked Jake, joining Finn on the roof and laying down next to him. "Can't go back to sleep?"

"If I do, I'll just dream of her again." said Finn, sighing.

"I wish there was something I could do to help." said Jake. "It hurts seeing my bro like this."

"The part that freaks me out the most is that it's a Cosmic Owl dream." said Finn. "He's there watching me, but I don't know why. If only we could share dreams like you and Jermaine do, then maybe you'd get what I'm talking about. Too bad we don't have any more of that Nightmare Juice."

"Dreams huh..." said Jake, an idea coming to him. "I know, why don't you go talk to Marceline?"

"Marceline?" asked Finn, surprised by the suggestion. "Why her?"

"She has weird dreams all the time." asked Jake. "Maybe you two can relate?"

"Having someone to talk to about this might help." said Finn, agreeing. "It's been a while since we last hung out. I hope she's doing okay."

"You can go see her now if you want." said Jake. "She's a vampire, so she's probably still up at this hour."

"Okay then, I'll go." said Finn.

Finn went back inside and got dressed, and when he was ready he grabbed his backpack and set out to visit the cave where Marceline lived, it still being dark outside.

* * *

At his castle in the Candy Kingdom, Crimson King also dreamed as he slept, and much like Finn he too saw Princess Bubblegum in his dream. Unlike with Finn though, the Bubblegum that appeared in his dream was not as friendly or welcoming, instead berating him for his recent actions.

"Why did you have to kill Slime Princess and her sister Blargetha?" asked Bubblegum. "That was cruel and unnecessary."

"I had no other choice mother." said Crimson King. "If I didn't put a stop to their ambitions, it would have eventually war, just like it did with your uncle Gumbald. Their deaths were a necessary sacrifice to maintain peace in Ooo. You of all people should understand that being a ruler means sometimes having to make tough decisions"

"At least you understand that much." said Bubblegum, reluctantly agreeing with his last statement. "But why are you absorbing and annexing the other kingdoms?"

"Wasn't it your dream to see the world united in peace and harmony?" said Crimson King. "I'm fulfilling that dream for you."

"I do want that, but not like this!" said Bubblegum. "Using force and manipulation to accomplish it, that's crossing a line."

"You weren't all that sweet and innocent yourself you know." said Crimson King, reminding Bubblegum of her own shady past. "But I suppose the Candy Empire has reached a sufficient enough size already. For the time being, I'll focus on maintaining an empire rather than building one."

"You shouldn't be building an empire at all!" said Bubblegum. "You were supposed to take over as ruler of the Candy Kingdom for me, not become the emperor of Ooo."

"Why must I only follow the path you've set out for me?" asked Crimson King. "There's so much good I could do to help fix this broken world and make it a better place. With your vast knowledge and wisdom, you could have easily done the same and ruled over Ooo as its guardian and protector, yet you chose to limit yourself to one tiny kingdom."

"It's because I want to believe people will follow the right path on their own without someone telling them to." said Bubblegum. "People should have the freedom to choose their own destiny, even if some of those people might choose wrong."

"And where did that lead you?" asked Crimson King. "You tried so hard to prove yourself to the unworthy masses of Ooo, but all they ever did was mock you and spit in the face of the kindness and compassion you tried to show them. Deep down inside you know the other princesses never truly respected you. They were jealous of you and your accomplishments. They can't stand the fact that you're so much better than them at everything."

"I just don't want you to make the same mistakes I did." said Bubblegum, a sad look on her face. "I've made far too many throughout my life..."

"But I am not you, nor do I wish to be you." said Crimson King. "I am me, and from here on out I follow my own path."

With that Crimson King awoke from his dream, quietly sitting up in his bed and looking out through the window of his bedroom at the starry night sky outside.

* * *

Entering the cave where Marceline lived, Finn walked over to the front door of her house and knocked, and a few moments later she answered the door.

"Hey Finn." said Marceline, her voice lacking its usual upbeat tone. "What brings you here?"

"I just wanted to see how you were doing." said Finn. "It's been a while."

"I'm fine." said Marceline, the bags under her eyes telling a different story.

"I've been having these really scary dreams lately." said Finn. "Jake said you might be able to help, but... I think I just want someone to talk to."

"Sure, we can talk." said Marceline. "I don't really have anything else going on right now."

Marceline invited Finn inside, and upon entering found that her house was a complete mess, there being a layer of trash that reached up to his ankles

"Has it always been this messy in here?" asked Finn, surprised to find Marceline's house in such a state.

"No, I just haven't gotten around to cleaning yet." said Marceline. "Bonnie would usually make me do it whenever she'd come visit. Maybe I'm just waiting for someone to come along and tell me to."

"Want me to help you clean?" asked Finn. "It'll make the place feel more welcoming."

Finn and Marceline went on to spend the next several minutes cleaning her house, and as they did they found themselves reminiscing over their shared memories of Princess Bubblegum. By the time they were done, Finn had cheered up somewhat, and after sitting down on the couch with Marceline he told her about the strange dreams he had been having.

"Sounds pretty freaky." said Marceline. "I've had weird dreams too, but nothing like that."

"Do you still dream about Bonnie?" asked Finn.

"Sometimes, but they aren't nightmares." said Marceline. "Mostly just dreams about the past."

"I miss her." said Finn.

"Me too, but I'm over it." said Marceline, saying this causally.

"Over it?" asked Finn, finding this hard to believe. "But you've known Bonnie for so long."

"About 350 years, give or take." said Marceline. "But for about 100 of those years we weren't talking."

"Wow, only 350 years?" asked Finn. "The way you two would act, it seemed like you've known each other a lot longer."

"What, you thought my whole life revolved around Bonnie?" asked Marceline. "We both had our own lives before we met, though Bonnie never really talked much about what hers was like before I came along. I bet she did all kinds of stupid things in her teenage years that she was too embarrassed or ashamed to talk about."

"So what was your life like before you met her?" asked Finn.

"After I killed all the vampires; pretty boring." said Marceline. "I would mostly just hibernate."

"Hibernate?" asked Finn. "Like in a coffin?"

"Back then it was how I dealt with things I couldn't handle." said Marceline. "Sort of like how you used to put things inside your vault."

"What about now?" asked Finn. "I thought you'd be taking her death the hardest. Didn't the love between you two mean anything?"

"Of course it did." said Marceline. "It meant everything to me, but now it's just another memory of the past."

"How can you say that?" asked Finn, shocked to hear this. "You act like it's no big deal she died."

"Finn, I've lived for a thousand years." said Marceline. "How many friends do you think I've lost in that time? If I were to keep dwelling on them, I'd never be able to move on with my life because I'd be stuck constantly grieving. That's why I've learned to get over things quickly. Bonnie wasn't the first person I've lost, and she probably won't be the last either, but with her it did hurt a little more than the others. Death is just a natural part of life we all have to accept. People aren't permanent, no matter how immortal or invincible they think they are, even me. Try all you want, but nothing stays forever."

"But she didn't deserve to die like that." said Finn, looking down at the floor. "It's not fair..."

"Life isn't always fair Finn." said Marceline, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Sometimes bad things just happen, even to people who didn't do anything to deserve it. Whenever they happen, you want to believe that they aren't real, but sometimes the world is just cruel and senseless like that. Nothing never happening never... if only life were really that carefree and simple."

"Then why is it so hard for me to move on?" asked Finn. "Everyone else has, but I'm still torn up inside."

"You think it's because you still love Bonnie?" asked Marceline.

"Of course I do, but it's more than that." said Finn. "Even though I got over my crush on her a long time ago, a part of me will always love her no matter what, just like you always will. She loved us, and we loved her. Nothing will ever change that. It's just that..."

Finn stopped to think for a moment, and then he finally came to a realization as to why he felt this way.

"What is it?" asked Marceline, waiting for him to finish.

"Without Bonnie, my life feels like it doesn't have a purpose anymore." said Finn. "She shaped me into who I am today. Taking me in as her champion all those years ago, that's what started me on my journey to becoming a hero in the first place. Being her champion gave my life direction and meaning. It fulfilled me. It was the reason I'd get up in the morning. I devoted so much of my life to her, and now she's just gone..."

"Did she really have that big of an impact on you?" asked Marceline, surprised to hear this.

"I first met Bonnie when I was 8 years old." said Finn. "I've pretty much known her for more than half my life. When something that's been with you for so long suddenly goes away, it leaves you with an empty feeling. You just don't know what to do with yourself after that."

"If being the champion of the Candy Kingdom was what gave you purpose, then why don't you go work for Crimson King?" asked Marceline. "Since he's Bonnie's _"son"_ I'm sure he'll offer you a job."

"Work for him?" said Finn scoffing at the notion. "No way."

"I figured as much." said Marceline, not surprised by Finn's answer.

"So you've met him?" asked Finn.

"Yeah, a few times." said Marceline. "Don't really care much for the guy though. He's so full of himself, always acting like he's _"Mr. Perfect",_ but then again Bonnie used to act just like that when I first met her, so I guess it runs in the family."

"Oh wow, did she really?" asked Finn, sharing a laugh with Marceline. "Somehow I can picture that."

"If you don't want to work for him, then I guess you just have to find a new purpose in life." said Marceline.

"A new purpose?" asked Finn. "But how? A new one isn't just going to fall right out of the sky."

"I don't know Finn." said Marceline. "This is something you'll have to figure out on your own."

"I think I'll go for a walk to clear my head." said Finn, taking Marceline's words into consideration. "It was nice talking to you."

"Take care Finn." said Marceline, walking Finn over to the front door and giving him a hug before he left.

"I will." said Finn, walking away, but then turning to tell Marceline one last thing. "You know you don't have to put on a brave face just for me. You're trying to act tough, but it's okay if you still want to cry."

"What are you talking about?" asked Marceline. "I told you already Finn, I'm over it."

"You're a terrible liar Marcy." said Finn. "You're still wearing that same sweater Bonnie gave you, and judging by the smell, you haven't washed it in months. Bye."

Once Finn had left, Marceline went back to her room and began to cry, feeling better about letting her emotions out now instead of keeping them all bottled up inside.

* * *

Finn now found himself walking alone in the forest outside the Candy Kingdom, still thinking about Marceline's words from earlier. As dawn approached, he felt a sudden bit of inspiration and began to sing.

 _I'm lost once again, with nowhere to go_

 _Autumn_ _is gone now, and winter_ _descends._

 _Aimless I wander, with nothing to show_

 _Always you were there, like all of my friends._

 _A beacon of light, to show me the way_

 _But now you are gone, and without you I'm lost._

 _Taken by Death, and carried away_

 _You gave me wings, but at what cost?_

As Finn finished his song, he entered the Candy Kingdom and began to wander its empty streets, eventually sitting down on a park bench to rest. He took a moment to enjoy the early morning peace and quiet, but then the silence was broken by what sounded like the cries of a baby coming from somewhere nearby. Alarmed by this, Finn got up and searched for the source of the cries, leading him to a large crack in the ground just outside the candy castle, which greatly resembled the one from his dream.

"Is there a baby down there?" asked Finn, laying down and putting his ear to the ground to listen.

Finn pulled away at the dirt and candy rocks surrounding the crack, creating an opening large enough for him to fit through which he climbed down. To his surprise, what he found inside was a small pink gum baby, similar appearance to how Princes Bubblegum had looked when she first emerged from the Mother Gum, but with shorter hair and a more humanoid body.

"It is a baby!" said Finn, shocked. "How did you get down here?"

Seeing Finn, the baby stopped its crying and crawled over to him, happy to see another person.

"Hey there baby." said Finn, picking up the baby. "Where's your mommy?"

Finn looked down and noticed a sticky pink substance on the ground, and as he tried to make sense of the situation a thought suddenly dawned on him.

"No, it can't be..." said Finn. "I've gotta show this to Marceline!"

Finn put the gum baby into his backpack and proceeded to climb out from the crack, running back to Marceline's house to show her what he had just found there.

* * *

After making his way back to Marceline's house, Finn repeatedly knocked on her door until she answered it.

"Finn, why are you back so early?" asked Marceline, annoyed that Finn had woken her up. "You know I sleep during the morning hours."

"So Marcy, are you feeling any better?" asked Finn, smiling.

"I am actually." said Marceline.

"Well get ready to feel even better." said Finn, reaching into his backpack and pulling out the gum baby. "Look what I found while out for a walk in the Candy Kingdom."

Marceline's jaw dropped at the sight of the gum baby, after which she let Finn inside to discuss what he had found. Recounting to her all the events leading up to his discovery of the gum baby, Finn then listened to Marceline's response.

"Finn, I know what you're probably thinking but... it's not what you think." said Marceline.

"But what else could it be?" asked Finn. "This is just like that time that Bonnie turned back into a kid when she almost died. We just need to find some more candy biomass and give it to her, then she'll be back to normal!"

"That won't work." said Marceline. "You can give her all the candy biomass you want, but all you'll get is a really big baby instead of a small one."

"What do you mean it won't work?" asked Finn. "We've did it before, so it has to work!"

"It won't work because that baby isn't Bonnie." said Marceline. "It's her child."

"Her child?" asked Finn, flabbergasted. "But how? When? With who?"

"She was planning on telling you guys eventually, but she never got the chance." said Marceline. "You probably noticed her body going through some weird changes in the weeks leading up to her death."

"Wait, so that was because she was preggers?" asked Finn. "I thought your belly is supposed to get big when that happens, not your whole body."

"For humans yes, but it's different for gum people." said Marceline. "Bonnie told me gum people reproduce asexually. Once they reach full maturity, they can make more gum people by increasing their candy biomass and then splitting off pieces of themselves. It's how the Mother Gum created her and Neddy. The conditions have to be just right though. They need an environment free from stress and hardship. Bonnie was feeling happy and content with her life after the Gum War, so she decided it was time to try making a child of her own. I thought it died with her, but I had no idea it was actually still alive this whole time, growing inside that hole you found it in."

"So what do we do with her?" said Finn, picking up the baby. "This gum baby is all that's left of Bonnie now."

"Gum people grow at a much slower rate than humans, so it'll be a while before she can fend for herself." said Marceline. "Someone's going to have to take care of her until then."

"Why don't we do it?" asked Finn. "We could be her parents."

"Us, as parents?" asked Marceline, blushing at the suggestion. "I don't know Finn. I'm really cut out for something like that. Parenting is a lot of work and responsibility."

"But what about when you and Bonnie were raising Peppermint Butler after he got turned back into a baby?" asked Finn.

"Bonnie did most of the work there." said Marceline. "I kind of just sat back and watched."

"How hard can it be?" asked Finn. "If we work together, I'm sure we can pull it off. We don't have to do it alone either. We'll have everyone else help out too, like Jake, and BMO, and maybe even LSP."

"It's worth a shot." said Marceline, taking the gum baby and holding it in her arms. "Come on, let's go show the others. They're totally going freak out when they see this."

Finn and Marceline left and began heading for Finn's house, eager to show the gum baby to Jake and BMO and see what their reactions to it would be.

* * *

After returning to his house with Marceline, Finn went inside and found Jake playing video games on BMO in the living room.

"I was wondering when you'd show up." said Jake. "You were gone a lot longer than I thought you'd be. From the looks of it, you're feeling better too."

"Jake, you're never going to believe what I found." said Finn, showing the gum baby to Jake. "Check out this little bundle of joy!"

"A baby!" said BMO, excitedly running over to get a closer look.

"Not just any baby." said Finn. "A gum baby."

"Is it a boy or a girl?" asked BMO, hopping up and down.

"It's a girl." said Finn.

"Where did you find her?" asked Jake.

"In the Candy Kingdom." said Finn. "It's Bonnie's daughter."

"Woah, Princess Bubblegum had a baby!" asked Jake, surprised to hear this. "Who's the daddy?"

"I'm her dad." said Finn.

"What, you and Bubblegum had a kid together?" said Jake, shocked.

"Wait no, that came out wrong!" said Finn, realizing his poor choice of words and becoming flustered. "What I meant to say is, I'm going to be her dad now."

"Wow, smooth Finn." said Marceline, laughing at the misunderstanding.

"Besides, Bonnie and I are two different species." said Finn. "I don't think that would even be possible..."

"You don't sound too sure." said Jake, poking fun at Finn. "What, have you tried before?"

"Come on Jake, knock it off." said Finn, turning red with embarrassment as Marceline continue to laugh at the hilarious turn the conversation had taken. "She doesn't have a bio dad."

"I'm just messing with you buddy." said Jake, stopping his teasing.

"Since her mom isn't around anymore, Marceline and I are going to raise her." said Finn.

"Does that mean the baby gets to live here with us?" asked BMO, squealing with excitement.

"If that's okay with you guys." said Finn.

"Of course it is." said Jake. "How could I say no to this little cutie?"

"You can help raise her too." said Finn.

"Yay, I get to be an uncle." said BMO.

"I never got to watch the pups grow up, so this'll be like a second chance at fatherhood for me." said Jake, excited by the prospect. "I'll finally get to put all those skills mom taught me to good use."

Finn, Jake, BMO, and Marceline found themselves quickly becoming captivated by the gum baby's adorable nature and took turns holding her. When Finn got around to holding her again, he put his mouth onto her stomach and blew on it, causing her to laugh.

"She seems to like you the most Finn." said Marceline.

"Maybe it's because you're the one who found her." said Jake. "She imprinted on you, like how a baby duck thinks the first thing it sees after hatching is its mother."

"What's her name?" asked BMO.

"Oh yeah, she doesn't have one yet." said Marceline.

"How about Gumdrop?" asked Finn. "Gumdrop Bubblegum."

"Sounds cute." said Marceline.

"She's our little Gumdrop!" said BMO.

"Welcome to the family Gumdrop." said Jake. "We've got a lot to teach you about the world."

"Maybe one day you'll grow up to be just like your mother." said Finn, laying Gumdrop down on the floor, after which she put her foot in her mouth. "Or you could just put your foot in your mouth. That's cool too..."

The four of them laughed at the sight Gumdrop, feeling genuinely happy for the first time since the death of Princess Bubblegum, her daughter filling them with joy.

* * *

 **This was a really emotional chapter that took a while to get right, especially the dialogue. I almost cry every time I picture the events of it in my head. The song Finn sings in this chapter is meant to be a callback to Breezy's Song from the season six episode Breezy, and some of the lyrics even mirror those that he sings in that episode, and in a similar tune too. To add some clarification to the situation regarding Baby Gumdrop, she was the pink blob the Lich vomited out after he killed Bubblegum and emerged in his new body. The thing that he mentions as growing inside her body along with him was Gumdrop. After the pink blob slipped away into that crack in the ground, it continued growing and forming there until it eventually became Gumdrop. You could technically consider Gumdrop to be Crimson King's sister, Gumdrop being Bubblegum's actual biological daughter while Crimson King is like a bastard child that resulted from Bubblegum's remains fusing with the Lich.**

 **The way in which Finn discovered Gumdrop is also similar to the dream he had in the season six episode The Visitor. In The Visitor, Finn has a dream where he is carrying a baby version of himself and sees the Catalyst Comet fall into a deep crack in the ground, which ends up leading him to his father Martin's spaceship. In the case of this chapter everything is now reversed. Finn finds a baby inside a crack in the ground, and instead of finding his father there it leads to Finn becoming the father of a baby. In a way, the dream he had in the Visitor could be seen as retroactive foreshadowing to what happens in this chapter. The dream Finn has in this chapter was basically a premonition dream meant to guide him to the location of Gumdrop, and since it was a Cosmic Owl dream that means whatever happened in it was destined to happen, but not every part of it has come to pass just yet. Pay attention to all the little details that were in it, because some of them foreshadow things that will happen later on in the story, though in a mostly vague and symbolic way that will not become fully clear until the end.**


	8. Episode 7: Ice vs Wind

Nearly a week had gone by since Finn's discovery of Baby Gumdrop, and in that time she had grown particularly fond of Finn and Marceline, the two people who were the closest with her late mother Princess Bubblegum. After putting her to bed for a nap in the small wooden crib they had built for her, Finn, Jake, Marceline, and BMO took a moment glance down at the new addition to their family.

"That wasn't so bad." said Finn, surprised by the ease in which they had gotten Gumdrop go to sleep. "Taking care of a gum baby is way easier than I thought it would be. Not only does she not need to drink milk, but she's also pretty quiet too. She's got her mother's gentle temperament."

"And she really likes that bear." said Marceline, watching as Gumdrop snuggled with a white teddy bear in her sleep. "Kind of makes me wish I still had Hambo..."

"I used to have a bear just like that when I was baby." said Finn, recalling seeing a similar looking teddy bear in the baby pictures his mother had shown him on Founders Island. "I wonder what happened to it?"

"We got this one from Raggedy Princess." said Jake. "There must be like a bazillion others out there."

"Who would have thought this little pink wad of gum would brighten up our lives like this." said Finn. "I don't know what it is, but something about her just puts my soul at ease."

"I know right?" said Jake. "I wish this moment could last forever."

The four of them then left the room to let Gumdrop sleep in peace, Finn reaching over to pop a large pink snot bubble that was coming out of her nose before going.

* * *

Crimson King was now out for a walk in the fields outside the Candy Kingdom, taking a moment to relax and reflect on recent events. As he gazed off into the distance from the top of a grassy hill, he saw someone flying towards him from the north, the new Ice King Gunter.

"What brings the ruler of the Ice Kingdom here?" asked Crimson King, Ice King coming down from the air and landing in front of him. "Have you come to align yourself with me?"

"I'm here to call you out Crimson King!" said Ice King, sounding furious.

"Call me out?" asked Crimson King. "For what?"

"My wife Turtle Princess tells me you killed Slime Princess and Blargetha, not to mention your own mother Princess Bubblegum when you were born." said Ice King. "You're a princess killer!"

"That's rich coming from the likes of you." said Crimson King, firing back. "I care not whether someone is a princess or a peasant. If they get in the way of my goal, then I eliminate them. Simple as that."

"If that's how it's going to be, then I challenge you to a duel!" said Ice King. 'Your evil deeds end today Crimson King!"

"A duel?" asked Crimson King. "Are you sure about that?"

"I've made up my mind." said Ice King. "This isn't just for me, but for the sake of all the princesses of Ooo."

"Alright then, I accept your challenge Ice King." said Crimson King, unsheathing the Wind Sword. "Just know that whatever happens after this will be your own fault, so don't say I didn't warn you."

Crimson King and Ice King then found a wide open space where they would have plenty of room, and after reaching a far enough distance apart stopped and turned to face each other.

"It seems my Wind Sword is reacting to the power of that Ice Crown you're fused with." said Crimson King, noticing that the blade of the Wind Sword was beginning to shake as he pointed it at Ice King. "Let's see which is better, your ice or my wind?"

Crimson King started off the duel by sending a large gust of wind towards Ice King, which he responded to by firing off several blasts of ice at his opponent in an attempt to freeze him. They both managed to dodge each other's opening attacks and continued the magical barrage, causing a great deal of damage to the surrounding area. This did not go unnoticed, and soon a large group of people from both the Candy Kingdom and nearby countryside had gathered to watch their duel play out. It got progressively more destructive as it went on, altering the landscape and eventually forcing the spectators to scatter and flee to avoid getting caught up in the crossfire.

No longer having to worry about any bystanders, Crimson King cut loose with another powerful wind slash, Ice King dodging the attack and watching as it sliced through a large number of trees in the forest behind him, shredding them apart like toothpicks. Unable to hit Ice King with a precision attack, Crimson King decided to switch to a more broad approach, twirling the Wind Sword a few times and generating a massive tornado. The tornado tore its way through the forest, uprooting trees in its pursuit of Ice King, until it eventually ended up in the part of the forest where Lumpy Space Princess resided in her makeshift hobo camp, completely destroying it in the process.

"My stuff!" said Lumpy Space Princess, all of her personal belongings being blown away by the tornado. "Why can't you take your battle somewhere else! You just wrecked my camp!"

"It's all his fault!" said Ice King, pointing at Crimson King. "He's the one who made that tornado. I'm just trying to protect all the princesses from him, including you."

"Please, violence isn't the answer!" said Lumpy Space Princess, completely misunderstanding the situation and stepping between Crimson King and Ice King. "I know you both want these lumps, but you don't have to fight over them!"

"Out of the way you pathetic purple fart cloud!" said Crimson King, a look of disgust on his face. "I have no interest in a vile creature like you!"

Having stopped to chat with Lumpy Space Princess, Ice King failed to notice the tornado now approaching him from the side, finally catching up and pulling both him and Lumpy Space Princess into its vortex. The two were violently spun about, becoming dizzy until it shot them out in opposite directions, Lumpy Space Princess being sent flying over the horizon while Ice King was catapulted towards Crimson King.

"Trying to claw my eyes out?" said Crimson King, Ice King now attempting to slash at him with his talons. "How uncouth."

"I'm just using what nature gave me." said Ice King. "If you don't like it, then how about this."

Ice King then created a blizzard of razor sharp ice shards, lodging several of them in Crimson King's gum-like body and greatly impeding his movements. Although Crimson King was younger and more agile than Ice King, Ice King still had the advantage of being more experienced with using the powers of his Ice Crown, whereas Crimson King had only just recently obtained the Wind Sword. As it stood now, Crimson King would lose their duel, so thinking of a new strategy he brought forth another one of the Wind Sword's techniques, doing a reverse slash which formed a powerful vacuum of air between them. Ice King tried to fly away, but the pull of the vacuum was too strong, drawing him closer to Crimson King and putting him in range of his attacks. As Ice King blocked the slashes of the Wind Sword with his talons, it made a noise which sounded like howling wind, speaking to its wielder Crimson King.

"What is it Fraggy?" asked Crimson King, putting the Wind Sword up to his ear. "Okay then, I'll try that."

"Who are you talking to?" asked Ice King, confused by the strange display. "Does your sword talk to you the same way my crown does?"

"She's just giving me some advice on what I should do next to beat you." said Crimson King, smiling.

"Oh, so your sword is a lady?" said Ice King. "Now I'm jealous."

"Let's end this already Ice King." said Crimson King.

"Bring it." said Ice King, remaining confident.

Crimson King began to wave the Wind Sword around in a rhythmic motion and slowly made his way towards Ice King, a strange ringing noise filing the air as he did. Not about to let Crimson King have an opportunity to use whatever attack he was planning, Ice King rushed in slashed him down the face and chest with his talons, but right as he did Crimson King used a wind slash on his midsection, which did not appear to have any effect.

"Was that supposed to be your final attack?" asked Ice King, looking down at his torso and not finding any wounds. "It didn't even sting."

"I don't understand..." said Crimson King, puzzled by what went wrong.

"Wait, what's that signing?" asked Ice King, now hearing what sounded like a disembodied voice signing around him.

Suddenly, Ice King's body split in half along his midsection where Crimson King had cut him, his upper and lower halves falling to the ground.

"I guess I won after all." said Crimson King, confused yet still seeing this as a victory.

Ice King gasped upon realizing what had just happened to his body, his two halves still squirming around on the ground.

"Surprisingly, this doesn't hurt at all." said Ice King, his upper half still conscious. "I actually feel kind of funny. Like ha-ha funny..."

"What the..." said Crimson King, shocked to see that Ice King was still alive despite being cut in half.

Ice King began laughing like a madman, and as he did magical sparks flew out from the gems of the Ice Crown like fireworks. The hair on his head and face started to grow at a rapid rate, engulfing the entire upper half of his body with the exception of the red gems on his face. His long blue nose grew in size as well, becoming a sharp icy blade, and as the transformation continued he began to resemble a large bird-like creature with features similar to those of Urgence Evergreen, concluding with the long white hair of his beard taking on the role of wings while his arms became his new legs. Crimson King was noticeably taken aback by the transformation, this creature still somewhat resembling Ice King but no longer possessing any of his higher intelligence. The creature continued to laugh, its voice sounding very much like that of Urgence Evergreen as it flapped its hairy wings and took flight, after which it set its sights on Crimson King and let out an angry scream that sounded vaguely human-like. Crimson King quickly snapped back to reality as the creature came for him, but he was unable to get away in time and was grabbed by its new arm-like talons, causing him to drop the Wind Sword.

"Release me you beast!" said Crimson King, the creature flying into the air with him.

As Crimson King struggled to get free from the talons of the creature, its loud howling attracted the attention of Neddy, who flew to Crimson King's aid.

"Help me Neddy!" said Crimson King, calling out to Neddy. "I can't get free from this ice... thing!"

Neddy approached the creature, but after seeing how frightening it was up close he hesitated for a moment backed away in fear.

"Remember Neddy, no fear!" said Crimson King, trying to boost Neddy's confidence. "You are mighty dragon! The one to be feared is you!"

Crimson King's pep talk worked, Neddy flying over to attack the creature once more and swiping it with his massive tail. This sent it hurtling through the air, loosening its grip on Crimson King and giving him the opportunity to summon the Needle Sword from his arm. He used it to slash the creature right where its missing third jewel would be, causing it to scream out in pain and finally release him. Crimson King fell through the air and landed safely on Neddy's back, while the creature continuing flying off in the other direction, heading for parts unknown.

"That was an unexpected turn of events." said Crimson King, still trying to process what had just happened. "Magical artifacts sure seem to have a mind of their own sometimes. You never really know who's in control, you or them. Come on Neddy, let's go home. I think it's best we leave that thing be for now."

Neddy agreed and flew him back to the Candy Kingdom to retrieve the Wind Sword and continue on with their day, Crimson King still shaken by what had happened.

* * *

The severed lower half of Ice King's body that had been left behind at site of his earlier battle with Crimson King now began to move and undergo a transformation its own, growing in size and morphing into a creature which resembled the alien Orgalorg. Unable to revert back to his more stable penguin form due losing the other half of his body to the Ice Crown, Orgalorg was now forced to crawl on the ground, the gravity of the planet weighing down on his body and hideously distorting it.

"You'll pay for this Crimson King!" said Orgalorg, screaming in agony as he dragged himself through the dirt. "When I find you, I'm going to rip your guts out, then we'll see how you like it!"

Orgalorg angrily plowed through the surrounding countryside in search of Crimson King, his twisted and elongated body leaving a trail on the ground along with some of his green alien blood. The demise of the Ice King Gunter at the hands of Crimson King had resulted in the creation of two monsters, the Ice Thing, and this lesser version of Orgalorg which now sought vengeance upon him. Orgalorg cut a path of destruction through the forest, breaking and knocking over trees until he arrived a small village in the countryside. Seeing the village, Orgalorg then decided to take his wrath on the fat villagers who inhabited it, all of them nearly dying of a heart attack when they saw the eldritch abomination emerge from the forest.

"Run for your lives!" said one of the villagers, fleeing the scene. "It's a monster!"

"Not again!" said another villager. "I'm too young to die!"

"Send word to the king!" said another villager. "He'll save us from this monster!"

"If you want to live, then bring Crimson King to me now!" said Orgalorg, destroying several houses in the village. "I'll squash him into goo and devour what's left!"

The villagers all scattered, running as far as their fat little bodies could take them to escape from the rampaging Orgalorg and to find a hero who could save them.

* * *

After escaping from Crimson King, the creature that was born from the upper half of Ice King still fused to the Ice Crown made its way to the Ice Kingdom, being naturally drawn there by the cold weather. Upon entering the Ice Kingdom, it caught sight of a man in a heavy winter coat picking some berries from a cluster of bushes at the base of a mountain, and decided he would be its next target. This man was Simon Petrikov, who was able to dodge its talons at the last second after seeing its shadow reflected on the snow.

"Is that you Gunter?" asked Simon, recognizing the red gems of the Ice Crown on its head. "What happened to you?"

The creature did not respond, instead making another attempt to grab Simon.

"Woah there, someone is a little grabby today." said Simon, ducking. "It's me Gunter, your old pal Simon."

It made another pass at Simon, forcing him to make a run for the log cabin nearby that currently served as his residence. He shut the door and barricaded himself inside, hoping the creature would go away as he heard it scratching and clawing at his roof. It lost interest after a while and left, the next thing that grabbed its attention being a large crack in the side of a mountain, which it felt a faint magical presence emanating from. It flew over to the crack and found a small rocky cave, inside which was a large multi-faceted sphere of ice. Intrigued by the object, the creature curiously pecked at it with its long sharp nose, making a few cracks. Seeing the cracks, it decided to try breaking it open, and so pushed the sphere over to the exit of the cave and sent it tumbling down the mountain, where it hit several rocks on its way down before finally crashing through the roof of Simon's cabin.

"What in Glob's name!" said Simon, jumping back as the icy sphere fell through his living room and shattered. "My roof!"

As Simon assessed the damage to his home, a figure emerged from the broken ice sphere. It was the ice elemental Patience St. Pim, who had previously frozen herself after her plan to gather the elementals to her side had failed.

"Ow, that really hurt..." said Patience, dazed and confused as she climbed out from the broken ice sphere.

"Woah, a lady just fall from the sky." said Simon, surprised by the sight of Patience, who was still in her powered up elemental form. "Hey lady, are you an angel?"

Before Patience could respond, the creature that had dropped her onto Simon's cabin arrived to see the result, and seeing the hole it had created in the roof it swooped down to attack once again. It got inside the cabin and made a mess of the place, scattering furniture and books everywhere as Simon and Patience scrambled to escape through the front door. The creature followed them outside and broke the doorway in the process, laughing menacingly as it chased them through the snow.

"Talk about a rude awakening." said Patience, running beside Simon. "What is that thing?"

"I don't know." said Simon. "I think it might be my penguin friend Gunter. He fused with Ice Crown a while back, but now it seems like something has changed about him."

"Gunter?" asked Patience, the name sounding vaguely familiar to her. "Gunter, Gunter... the crown!"

As memories of her past life of Urgence Evergreen came flooding into her mind, Patience recalled the creation of the Ice Crown and got an idea. When the creature swooped down at them from the air, Patience used her ice elemental powers to freeze its wings and force it to the ground, giving her the opportunity to safely approach it.

"Wait, don't go near that thing." said Simon, remaining cautious. "It's dangerous."

"There seems to be an imbalance within crown." said Patience. "I think I might be able to fix it."

Patience reached over to touch the red gems of the Ice Crown, her arms becoming transparent and ghost-like as she did. She then reached into the crown and used her powers to alter its internal circuitry, and after doing so the creature finally seemed to calm down.

"Master Evergreen..." said the creature, in a vaguely human-like voice as it recognized Patience.

"There, all better." said Patience, patting the creature on the head.

"What did you just do?" asked Simon, surprised by how easily Patience had managed to tame the beast with her powers.

"I was Urgence Evergreen in one of my past lives, so I'm technically the one who made this thing." said Patience, pointing to the creature. "I used my ice elemental powers to interface with the Ice Crown and rearrange some of its circuitry in order to stabilize it."

Patience was now utterly exhausted, having used up a great deal of her power to stabilize the crown, so she dispelled her elemental form to rest and recuperate.

"There's something familiar about you." said Simon, feeling as though he recognized Patience upon seeing her in human form. "Wait, is that you Patience?"

"Professor Petrikov?" asked Patience, finally getting a good look at Simon and seeming to recognize him as well. "I can't believe it, you're still alive! How did you survive the Mushroom War?"

Simon and Patience stood there for a moment and looked at each other in shock, the two seemingly knowing each other from a time before the Great Mushroom War.

* * *

 **In the original version of this chapter, the Ice King that challenged Crimson King to a duel was the Simon Ice King we are all familiar with from the show rather than the new Gunter Ice King that was introduced at the end of the finale. The duel progressed in pretty much the same way it did in this new version, but the outcome was slightly different. In that version, Crimson King actually ended up breaking the Ice Crown with the Wind Sword, forcibly severing Simon's connection to it. This resulted in Simon being partially freed from the Ice Crown, which then went haywire and gained a will of its own, turning into the Ice Thing and escaping. This left Simon in a state of magical limbo where he would rapidly switch back and forth between various forms of Ice King, which is how Finn and the others find him in the next chapter. Marceline would then fly off with Simon to find Patience St. Pim, in the hopes that she could use her powers to fully sever the connection and stabilize Simon's condition, the logic being that since she is the current ice elemental, and the Ice Crown was created by the former ice elemental Urgence Evergreen, she might possess some knowledge that could help him.**

 **Even though things happen a bit differently in this new version, Orgalorg still ends up returning in both versions. When Crimson King cut Ice King in half with that final attack from the Wind Sword, it forcibly severed Gunter's connection to the Ice Crown. For the Wind Sword to be capable of doing something like that to a magical being like Ice King** **, that should be your first clue that there is way more to the Wind Sword than meets the eye, its magical powers seemingly being on par with those of the Ice Crown. The upper half of Ice King that was still fused to the Ice Crown is what turned into the Ice Thing that we see in the Graybles 1000+ future, which makes sense because between the finale and a thousand years later something had to have happened to Gunter to make him like that. The Ice Thing almost looks like a floating head or torso that is missing the rest of its body, so this is my idea for how that happened. As for Ice King's lower half, which is no longer attached to the Ice Crown, it turned into Orgalorg, though a weakened version of him due to the Wind Sword severing him from the rest of Gunter's body, effectively creating two separate beings. This version of Orgalorg is not bound to the Ice Crown, but he also cannot turn back into his penguin form either due to his injuries, so he is stuck in his alien form which is now being painfully distorted by the gravity on Ooo.**

 **Not only is Orgalorg back in this chapter, but we also get the surprise return of another character** **, the ice elemental Patience St. Pim. Patience to me always felt like a wasted character, only showing up for two episodes, Elemental and Jelly Beans Have Power, as well as the Elements miniseries, and then being tossed aside by the writers once her role was done, like so many other throwaway characters in the show. She had a lot of potential to be a fun character if only they had kept her around. That is why I decided to bring her back, and as evidenced by her interaction with Simon at the end of this chapter, the two seem to already be familiar with each other from before the Great Mushroom War, which should lead to an interesting new dynamic going forward. In the episode Winter Light, there was even a deleted scene where Ice King looked into a mirror in Patience's ice domain and saw a reflection of himself that looked very similar to what Gunter becomes in the finale, which back then made me wonder if she would play some part in curing Simon. By having Patience use her ice elemental powers to stabilize the Ice Crown and tame the Ice Thing, I am somewhat repurposing that deleted scene into being retroactive foreshadowing.**


	9. Episode 8: The Hero of Ooo

After being blown away by the tornado, Lumpy Space Princess eventually landed in the grassy plains where Finn and Jake lived, crashing straight through the wall of their house and ending up in their living room, where Finn, Jake, and Marceline were playing video games on BMO.

"LSP, what the heck!" said Finn, her sudden entrance causing him to get a game over. "You just busted a huge hole in the wall!"

"What happened?" asked Lumpy Space Princess, dazed from the impact. "Am I still in Kansas?"

"Kansas?" asked Jake, confused. "What are you talking about? Did you hit your head somewhere LSP?"

"Girl, how did you even get here?" asked Marceline, curious as to how Lumpy Space Princess had ended up in this situation. "Did somebody shoot you out of a cannon?"

"I don't know." said Lumpy Space Princess, her head still hurting as she adjusted to her surroundings. "I think I got sucked into a tornado."

"A tornado?" asked Jake, skeptical of this "The weather forecast didn't say anything a tornado today; at least not like the one from that time we had to spend a whole week with you in that shelter."

"I remember now!" said Lumpy Space Princess, recalling what happened. "Crimson King and Ice King were fighting in the woods and wrecked everything with their magic!"

"They got into a fight?" asked Finn, surprised to hear this. "Over what?"

"Knowing Ice King, it was probably something stupid." said Marceline.

"Now this I've got to see." said Finn, intrigued by the thought of watching the two rulers fight. "We'll fix the hole later. BMO, you stay here and watch over Gumdrop while we're gone."

Finn got up and grabbed his backpack and the Night Sword, setting off with Jake, Marceline, and Lumpy Space Princess to the site of the battle in hopes of catching it.

* * *

Arriving at the site of Ice King and Crimson King's earlier battle, Finn, Jake, Marceline, and Lumpy Space Princess were shocked by the devastation it had left behind.

"Whoa, that must have been one heck of a battle." said Finn, assessing the damage. "Is it over?"

"I don't see them anywhere." said Marceline, looking around for signs of Ice King and Crimson King. "Maybe they finished already and went home?"

"Aw man, that means we missed out on seeing the fight of the century." said Jake, sounding disappointed. "I even brought popcorn."

"Wait, what's that over there?" asked Finn, pointing to something on the ground.

Upon closer examination they found two trails, one of white hairs that led north, and another of dirt and green blood that led south.

"Something crazy must have gone down here." said Jake. "I wonder what it was?"

"The trails split off two different directions." said Finn. "Should we follow them?"

"That one goes towards the Ice Kingdom, and awfully close to where Simon lives too." said Marceline, pointing to the trail of white hairs with a hint of worry in her voice. "I hope whatever trouble happened here didn't find its way to him."

"Maybe you should go on him and make sure he's okay." said Finn. "We'll follow the other trail."

"Alright, see you later then." said Marceline. "If I find out what made these hairs, I'll let you know."

Once Marceline was gone, Finn, Jake, and Lumpy Space Princess began to follow the trail of dirt and green blood, taking them through the destroyed portion of the forest where Lumpy Space Princess' hobo camp had been.

"Where am I gonna to live now?" asked Lumpy Space Princess. "They destroyed my camp."

"You're still living in the woods?" asked Finn. "I thought you moved back to living in Lumpy Space?"

"Things happened okay." said Lumpy Space Princess. "It's complicated..."

"You got into another fight with your parents, didn't you?" asked Jake, reading her like a book.

"Oh my Glob, yes!" said Lumpy Space Princess, groaning. "They made me the new Queen of Lumpy Space, but they never let me do anything important! They keep trying to tell me how to run things, saying they're just _"advising"_ me and that I'm not _"experienced"_ enough to do it all by myself yet. I just want to do things my way, but they keep butting in!"

"Maybe you should listen to them." said Finn. "They've been doing this way longer than you have. They're just trying to help you be a good Queen."

"Then why even make me queen if I'm not ready yet?" asked Lumpy Space Princess. "At first I thought it would be fun, but I didn't think there would be this much hard work involved!"

"If you want, you can come crash with us for a while." said Finn, feeling bad for Lumpy Space Princess. "At least until you think you're ready to go back."

As they continued following the trail, they eventually encountered a group of panicked villagers who seemed to be running away from something.

"Run for your lives!" said one of the villagers. "There's a monster in our village!"

"A monster you say?" asked Finn, his hero instincts kicking in. "Sounds like a job for a hero. Don't worry, I'll save you from the monster."

Finn eagerly ran ahead on his own, coming out of the forest and into the village, where the trail of dirt and green blood seemed to end. Feeling the ground start to shake, Finn drew his Night Sword in anticipation for the monster as it emerged from behind the windmill. This monster was none other than the hideously disfigured Orgalorg, who saw Finn and immediately began charging at him in a blind rage, knocking down several houses in the process. The bizarre and terrifying sight of Orgalorg crawling towards him caused Finn to suddenly lose his nerve and let out his signature high pitched scream, quickly reconsidering his actions and running back the way he came.

"What happened?" asked Jake, finally catching up to Finn with Lumpy Space Princess and seeing him running the opposite direction. "Did you find the monster?"

"Run Jake!" said Finn, his voice filled with panic. "It's coming this way!"

"What in the..." said Jake, his eyes widening in shock as he saw Orgalorg appear. "Quick, get on my back!"

Using his shape shifting abilities, Jake increased the size of his body so that Finn and Lumpy Space Princess could climb onto him, and once they were secure he took off, stretching out his legs to cover as much distance as possible with each step.

"Can this day get any worse!" said Lumpy Space Princess, complain. "First I lose my all my stuff, and now we're being chased by some butt-ugly monster!"

Orgalorg kept up at a frightening speed, nearly managing to grab them several times with his long yellow arms, and as he jumped down a steep hill Jake noticed a truck parked in the valley below with their acquaintance Banana Man sitting inside. Seeing this as their best option for escape, Jake shrunk himself back down and hopped in the back with Finn and Lumpy Space Princess.

"Hey guys." said Banana Man, greeting Finn and Jake as they landed in the truck bed. "What do you think of this new truck I put together? Pretty snazzy isn't it?"

"Floor it Banana Man!" said Finn, his voice almost cracking. "Do it now or we're going to die!"

Banana Man took a brief second to glance into the rear-view mirror and nearly jumped out of his seat when he saw Orgalorg approaching from the distance.

"What in Glob's name is that!" asked Banana Man, slamming his foot on the gas and taking off. "It's yellow and white, but that sure doesn't look like any banana I've ever seen!"

"Dude, I think that's Orgalorg." said Finn, now getting a better look at their pursuer. "Oh man, he looks pissed too."

"Orga-what?" asked Banana Man, unfamiliar with the name.

"Gunter." said Jake, clarifying. "It's Gunter."

"The penguin?" asked Banana Man, confused. "I always knew there was something off about that bird, but you're saying that's him?"

"It's a long story." said Finn. "There's no time to explain."

"Where is he!" said Orgalorg, now chasing after the truck. "Where is that bubblegum bastard!"

"Are you looking for Crimson King?" asked Finn. "What do you want with him?"

"He's the one who did this to me!" said Orgalorg. "He cut my body in half with that magic sword of his, and now I can't change back into my compact form!"

"What's going on?" asked Banana Man. "It seems like trouble always follows you guys wherever you go."

"We had nothing to do with this." said Finn. "We're caught up in it just like you are."

"And you!" said Orgalorg, finally recognizing Finn. "I remember you! You were there when I tried to absorb the powers of the Catalyst Comet. Once I'm done with Crimson King, you're next! Don't think you can hide from me either, because I know where you live!"

"Aw nuts, he knows where we live Jake." said Finn. "He probably remembers when he was Gunter. Now what do we do?"

"Now we'll have to spend the rest of our lives on the run." said Jake. "We should change our names too. You'll be Phil and I'll be..."

"Um, guys..." said Banana Man, interrupting them. "We're about to run out of gas."

"I wish Bonnie were still here." said Finn, at a loss for ideas. "She always knew what to do in times like these."

As they neared the Candy Kingdom, Neddy came down from the sky above and joined the pursuit.

"You called?" asked Crimson King, a smug look on his face as he and Neddy flew alongside the truck.

"This is all your fault!" said Finn, hanging onto the back of the truck for dear life as it hit a bump and violently tossed them into the air. "The Candy Kingdom has had to deal with way too many giant monsters, but now you had to go and piss off another one! If we die because of this, I'm never gonna to forgive you! I'll find you in the afterlife and sock you in the chops!"

"I'll admit, I did not expect this sort of outcome from my battle with Ice King." said Crimson King, admitting to his mistake. "But don't you find this the least bit thrilling though? For people like us who crave excitement and adventure in our lives, this is what we live for."

"This isn't excitement!" said Finn, surprised by Crimson King's warped view of the situation. "This is insanity!"

"There you are!" said Orgalorg, now spotting Crimson King and reaching out for him. "You finally decided to show your face."

"You're the one he wants Crimson King!" said Finn. "Help us fix this mess!"

Now trying to cut them off, Orgalorg propelled himself off the ground with his long yellow arms, nearly crushing the truck under his body as it slammed into the ground. The force of the impact sent the truck flying, causing it to land in a narrow gap between two trees where it became stuck, forcing Finn, Jake, Lumpy Space Princess, and Banana Man to get out and continue on foot.

"So you're that monster's other half?" said Crimson King, jumping down from Neddy's back with the Wind Sword drawn and ready. "How many more times do I have to cut you up before you finally die? No matter. Once I slay you, they'll sing of my heroism for ages to come."

"Not if I slay him first!" said Finn, letting out a battle cry as he charged ahead with the Night Sword.

Competing to see who would be the first to defeat him and take the credit, Finn and Crimson King began hacking and slashing at Orgalorg with their swords. Due to the thick yellow scales covering his body though, their attacks had little effect, and all it did was enrage the eldritch god even further. Orgalorg responded by lashing out at them with his long yellow arms, turning them into deadly whips. Finn and Crimson King were thrown off balance by the attacks, allowing Orgalorg to grab them both, and with the two firmly in his grip he proceeded to stand himself up, revealing the massive injury to his belly caused by his separation from Gunter.

"Did you microbes really think you could best me, Orgalorg, the Breaker of Worlds!" asked Orgalorg.

"Never heard of you." said Crimson King, still acting smug. "Should I have?"

"And you..." said Orgalorg, squeezing Crimson King tightly. "Look at what you've reduced me to, a worm crawling through the dirt! How dare you do this to a god like me!"

"You're no god." said Finn. "If you were, I wouldn't have been able to cut my way out of you. Real gods don't bleed."

"Such big talk from a microbe." said Orgalorg, squeezing Finn tightly as well. "Perhaps I should return the favor by ripping you both open. I'll drink the goo from your lifeless husks and use it as nourishment to heal my wounds."

"Can't breathe..." said Finn, gasping for air as Orgalorg squeezed him in his grip.

"You won't be needing these anymore." said Orgalorg, taking away their swords and tossing them aside.

Orgalorg raised his two captives into the air and held them over his head, opening his beak-like mouth to reveal a set of razor sharp teeth.

"No, let me go!" said Crimson King, once again overcome by his primal fear of being devoured. "I don't want to be eaten!"

As he was brought closer to his mouth, Orgalorg noticed the strange comet-shaped birthmark on Crimson King's chest, making him pause for a moment.

"What's this now?" asked Orgalorg, curiously examining the mark. "I thought there was only supposed to be one of you here."

Orgalorg began to search Finn's body as well, eventually finding the same comet-shaped birthmark on his right butt cheek after pulling down his pants.

"Hey, keep your tentacles to yourself!" said Finn, blushing with embarrassment.

"How many of you are there on this backwater planet?" asked Orgalorg. "It's rare to find more than one Catalyst Agent in the same era. One of you must be a holdover from a previous incarnation. If this boy here was the blue comet from a thousand years ago, then which one are you pinky? Ah, now I see... Greetings oh Rotten One."

"Rotten One?" asked Crimson King, noticing the contempt in Orgalorg's voice. "Are you referring to the Lich?"

"What a waste..." said Orgalorg, feeling the Lich's presence dormant inside Crimson King. "Among all the Catalyst Comets, yours was the most beautiful. That is until Golb made it turn all nasty with his breath. There's always got to be some ignoramus who comes along and ruins it for everybody. I still remember hearing how the comet wept and cried as it was tainted by his dank essence."

As Orgalorg spoke, he projected a holographic image from his eyes to visualize the incident, showing Finn and Crimson King an image of a fiery orange Catalyst Comet being engulfed by Golb's evil essence, causing it to turn a noxious green color and develop two ghostly horn-like protrusions.

"You sure seem to know a lot about these Catalyst Comets." said Finn, seeing this as an opportunity to stall for time. "What's the deal with them anyway?"

"Those whose souls have been delivered to this world by a Catalyst Comet are known as Catalyst Agents." said Orgalorg. "Some may call it destiny, but what you really are is just playthings of the cosmic deities who rule this universe; puppets in their little game. You Catalysts Agents are a cursed lot, destined to suffer for all eternity as you endlessly reincarnate. Being devoured by me would actually be mercy. You were a fool to reject the Catalyst Comet's offer Finn, because then you could have escaped from this cruel fate of yours. Sucks to be you."

"What fate?" asked Finn, wanting to know more. "Is there someone, or something, out there controlling my destiny? What do they want from me?"

"Are you sure you want to know?" asked Orgalorg. "They say ignorance is bliss..."

Before he could finish, Jake appeared from behind and attacked Orgalorg, having transformed into his blue alien form.

"Hurry Finn, while he's not looking!" said Jake, wrapping his body around Orgalorg's face to block his vision.

With his vision obscured, Orgalorg was forced to let go of Finn and Crimson King, allowing them to escape.

"Get off me you Protean spawn!" said Orgalorg. "I thought I wiped your race out a long time ago!"

Orgalorg eventually managed to pull Jake away from his face and proceeded to throw him at Finn, sending them both crashing into a tree. With Finn and Jake out of the way, Orgalorg turned his attention on Crimson King, who had now retrieved the Wind Sword. Trying to think of a way to defeat him, an idea came to Crimson King when he remembered what Finn had said earlier about previously cutting his way out of Orgalorg from the inside. Sending a large gust of wind his way, Orgalorg lost his balance and fell over, allowing Crimson King to run up to him and thrust the Wind Sword into his mouth.

"Do you really want to die that badly?" asked Orgalorg, trying to speak with the Wind Sword caught in his teeth. "Go ahead and stick your head in there too."

"Your outer shell may be hard as rock, but is the same true for your insides?" asked Crimson King. "Let's find out."

Realizing what Crimson King was about to do, Orgalorg desperately tried to bite off his arm, but the Wind Sword prevented him from doing so as Crimson King created a powerful whirlwind inside his body.

"Damn you Crimson King!" said Orgalorg, screaming in pain as the razor sharp winds tore his body apart from the inside out. "You'll get what's coming to you sooner or later!"

The force of the whirlwind building up inside Orgalorg's body caused it to expand like a balloon until it finally popped, showering green blood and alien guts all over the surrounding landscape. What was left of Orgalorg slowly dissolved away into a yellow mist, leaving behind only the empty shell of his outer carapace. Crimson King, now covered head to toe in green blood, climbed onto the carapace and triumphantly held the Wind Sword. A group of villagers who had been watching the battle from afar came over to greet him, cheering for their king.

"Crimson King saved us!" said one of the villagers. "He slew the monster!"

"He did what no one else could!" said another villager. "He's truly the Hero of Ooo!"

"Please, I did what I had to." said Crimson King, trying to appear modest to the crowd. "As your king, it is my duty to keep you safe from threats like these."

The villagers continued cheering, chanting Crimson King's name and hailing him as their savior and hero.

"Well this is gross." said Finn, Orgalorg's green blood having gotten on him as well. "It looks like I'm covered in snot."

"I can't believe Crimson King actually killed Orgalorg." said Jake, impressed. "That's some magic sword he's got."

"I wish I had that sword." said Finn, retrieving the Night Sword. "I swear, half the time it's like this sword is trying to kill me. It would either slip out of my hands at the worst possible times, or I'd almost cut myself with it by accident. Just for once I'd like to have a good sword that isn't cursed."

"Why do you look so down Finn?" asked Jake, noticing that Finn seemed to be in low spirits. "Orgalorg is dead. We don't ever have to see his ugly face again!"

"I failed Jake." said Finn, a sad look on his face as he watched the crowd praise Crimson King. "Just like with Golb, I couldn't do anything. When it came down to it, I ran away like a coward back in the forest, but Crimson King fought without any hesitation. How can I call myself a hero after this?"

"There's more to being a hero than just being brave." said Jake. "I bet Crimson King's gonna let this victory to go to his head. He'll probably start thinking that since he killed a god that makes him one too."

"But that's basically what he is to them now; a god." said Finn, gesturing to Crimson King. "Look at him Jake. He's perfect. He's surpassed both me as a hero and Bonnie as a ruler. He's everything they could ever want... everything I'm not. The people of Ooo don't need me as their hero anymore, and why they when they've got someone so much better? Let's face it Jake, I'm old news."

"But you'll always be a hero to me though..." said Jake, not sure what else to say. "Come on, let's go home and get cleaned up."

"You know, this might actually be a good thing." said Finn, sheathing the Night Sword in his backpack. "Now that I don't have to worry about protecting Ooo anymore, I'll have time to focus on other stuff. I can be a hero to just one little girl now instead of to the whole world, and that little girl needs me more than they ever will."

Finn began heading home with Jake, confident in passing on his role of hero to Crimson King, and wondering what the future would hold for him now as a father.

* * *

 **In the original version of this chapter, rather than killing Orgalorg, Crimson King ends up banishing him from Ooo** **using another one of the Wind Sword's abilities, one that allows him to tear open small portals to outer space that suck in everything around them like a blackhole before closing. At the time, I had Orgalorg be banished because I was not sure if I would ever use him again in the story for anything else, but now I feel it would probably be more impactful to just have Crimson King kill him instead. I also scrapped the idea of the Wind Sword having the ability to create small portals because I feel like that would be a bit too overpowered and could eventually lead to plot holes. Since we are about halfway through the Season Eleven portion of this story, you could think of this chapter as being like a mid-season finale.**

 **On a side note, the part of this chapter where Orgalorg is dragging himself along the ground and wrecking everything in sight was kind of inspired by a scene from the Studio Ghibli movie Princess Mononoke. At the beginning of that movie, an injured boar god is rampaging through a forest and seeking vengeance on the humans who hurt it, which is sort of how I picture Orgalorg in this scenario. With this chapter, I also noticed a few more similarities between Crimson King and Griffith from Berserk, which I mentioned a few chapters ago. At one point in Berserk, after he becomes king Griffith defeats a gigantic demon terrorizing the countryside, and afterwards is hailed as the hero and savior, almost being elevated to the status of a god. Coincidentally enough, Berserk also has a plot element that involves certain individuals with a cursed mark on their bodies, however the marks of the Catalyst Comet in this story operate much differently from the Brand of Sacrifice in Berserk, so the similarities end there.**

 **Lastly, here is a little bit of trivia regarding Orgalorg's statement about Jake being a Protean spawn and how it relates to his alien parent Warren Ampersand. In Greek mythology, Proteus was a sea deity connected to Poseidon who had the ability to change his form at will, much like Jake can. This made him notoriously difficult to catch, as many people would often seek him out because Proteus supposedly had knowledge of the future and could only answer truthfully when asked about it, but he would always try to avoid doing so by using his shape shifting abilities to escape. The word protean comes from his name, being an adjective used to describe something that can take on many different forms. Because of that, I thought Protean would be a good name for the species of the blue shape shifting alien that Warren Ampersand is, which according to Orgalorg he wiped out.**


	10. Episode 9: Finn the Man

Finn woke up to the feeling of something hard landing next to him, and upon opening his eyes found that it was BMO jumping up and down on his bed.

"BMO, what are you doing?" asked Finn, annoyed at being woken up like this.

"Rise and shine sleepy head." said BMO. "Today is your special day."

"Special day?" asked Finn. "What's special about it?

"You'll see." said BMO, smiling. "Get dressed and follow me."

Humoring BMO, Finn got out of bed and washed up, after which he put on a new set of clothes.

"Okay, I'm ready." said Finn.

"Now close your eyes." said BMO. "No peeking."

"I'm closing them." said Finn, closing his eyes.

BMO took Finn by the hand and led him downstairs, going out the front door and into the yard.

"You can open them now." said BMO.

Opening his eyes, Finn found himself in front of the tree that had once been Fern, around which several of his friends and loved ones from across Ooo had gathered, such as Jake, Marceline, Baby Gumdrop, Lumpy Space Princess, Lady Rainicorn, Huntress Wizard, Flame Princess, Neptr, and Shelby. A large table with food had been set up underneath the tree, complete with a birthday cake and two candles that spelled out the number eighteen.

"Happy Birthday Finn!" said the group, showering him with confetti.

"Sang-il chook-ha-hae." said Lady Rainicorn, wishing him the same.

"Guys, what is this?" asked Finn, confused.

"It's your birthday dude." said Jake.

"No it's not." said Finn. "Unless I somehow time traveled in my sleep, it hasn't even been a full year since my last birthday."

"What we've been celebrating as your birthday up until now was just the day mom and dad found you as a baby." said Jake. "This one is the real deal."

"Real deal?" asked Finn, still not following. "Were all my other birthdays just fake then?"

"We'll let the mama bear that told us explain it to you." said Jake. "Show him BMO."

BMO's screen then lit up and began to play a video recording of Finn's biological mother Minerva Campbell.

"Hi Finn, it's your mom." said the recording of Minerva. "I just wanted to say Happy Birthday! There's so much I didn't get to tell you before you left Founders Island, so at the very least I wanted to let you know when your birthday is. I left this prerecorded message inside your little gadget and set it to activate on the big day. If you're seeing this message at its proper time, then that means today is the day you were born. It isn't just any birthday either. You're eighteen years old now! Having lived in that crazy world you call Ooo, it might seem like just another number to you, but in our human culture on Founder's Island that's the age where someone is finally considered an adult. You're my little man now. Bye, I love you."

"I'm an adult now..." said Finn, not sure how to feel about this revelation.

"BMO was digging through his data banks the other day and stumbled across that message from your mom." said Jake. "She must have put it in there before we left the island. Lucky we found it when we did, because knowing in advance gave us to time to gather everyone we could on such short notice and plan this surprise party for our two birthday boys."

"Birthday boys?" asked Finn, looking around. "Is it also someone else's birthday today?"

"It's Fern's birthday too." said Huntress Wizard, gesturing to the tree. "He is you after all, so it makes sense that the two of you would share the same birthday."

"Oh yeah, how could I forget." said Finn. "Even though he's a tree now, he's still like my twin brother."

"Fern told me some stories about your previous birthdays." said Huntress Wizard. "Even about the really embarrassing thing that happened at your tenth birthday. You know, the one where you..."

"Dang it Fern, why did you tell her that!" said Finn, turning red with embarrassment as he cut her off to prevent her from saying it out loud. "For a tree you sure like to talk a lot..."

"You'd be surprised by how much trees actually have to say." said Huntress Wizard. "If you heard even half the things I've heard them say, you wouldn't be able to sleep at night. A lot of them love to talk smack about people, especially those birch trees..."

"I really wanted to do a prank this time, but Huntress Wizard wouldn't let me." said Jake. "She followed me around the whole time just to make sure I wouldn't."

"This birthday is supposed to be Finn's rite of passage into adulthood." said Huntress Wizard. "I couldn't let you disgrace such a scared event with your childish tricks."

"At least nobody disappeared on me this time, well... except for one person." said Finn, watching as Gumdrop sat in her high-chair blowing pink spit bubbles from her mouth. "I wish Bonnie could be here to see this, but at least I have the next best thing."

"Go ahead and open your presents Finn." said Jake. "We all got you something."

One by one Finn unwrapped his gifts, eventually reaching the one from Huntress Wizard and finding a bow and quiver of arrows inside.

"A bow and arrow!" said Finn, excited by the gift. "I've always wanted to try archery."

"I figured this time I'd get you something more practical." said Huntress Wizard. "I could teach you sometime if you'd like."

"Open my gift now." said Marceline. "I got you something useful too."

Finn proceeded to open the gift from Marceline, finding a pack of socks inside.

"Yes, socks!" said Finn, seemingly overjoyed by the simple gift. "They're just what I needed."

"I didn't think you'd be that into it." said Marceline, surprised by his reaction. "All your socks seemed to be falling apart, so I thought I'd get you some new ones."

"Thanks for gifts everyone." said Finn, having opened the last of them. "It means a lot to me."

"You're always putting your butt on the line for all of us, so we wanted to do something special for you." said Marceline. "It's our way of cheering you up after all the junk you've been through lately. Compared to yours, my eighteenth birthday sucked. It was literally the day after I got turned into a vampire, so that put a damper on things."

"You're finally an adult buddy." said Jake, patting Finn on the back. "Now you can do all things we were never allowed to do as kids, like going to see R-rated movies!"

"Welcome to the club Finn." said Marceline. "You're one of us now."

"I might as well enjoy my teen years while they last." said Flame Princess, sighing. "It won't be long before I turn eighteen too."

"Hey BMO, bring up that message from my mom." said Finn. "I want to show Fern."

Finn sat down next to the tree with BMO and replayed the message, watching it over and over again, until he had seen it nearly ten times.

"So that's your mom huh?" asked Marceline, sitting down next to Finn. "Want to see mine? BMO, show him the picture we found."

BMO searched through his files and brought up the image of Marceline's mother they had found on her old USB drive, and as he did Jake, Flame Princess, and Huntress Wizard gathered to see it as well.

"Oh wow." said Finn, looking at the picture. "She's really pretty."

"Is that you as a kid Marceline?" asked Flame Princess, pointing to the little girl in the picture.

"It was." said Marceline. "It's from when we went to the beach."

"What's your mom like Phoebe?" asked Finn. "I don't think I've ever heard you mention her before."

"Oh, I don't have a mom." said Flame Princess, saying it bluntly. "It was always just my dad."

"Sorry to hear that..." said Finn, feeling bad now. "How did she die?"

"Wait no, it's not like that Finn." said Flame Princess, seeing that Finn had misunderstood. "It's not that my mom died. I literally don't have a mom, like at all. I came from my dad's flames, just like all my other siblings did. A flame person only has one parent, either a mom or a dad depending on whose flames they come from."

"Doesn't that kind of suck though?" asked Finn. "Not knowing what it's like to have a mom?"

"I don't have a mom either." said Huntress Wizard, chiming in. "My dad says I sprouted from a seed he planted in his garden."

"Are you sure you didn't come from a seed of a different kind?" asked Jake. "Your dad was probably just being coy. When Finn was little, our mom and dad used to tell him he came out of a cabbage."

"Is your dad cool?" asked Finn, curious to know more. "This is the first time you've said anything about him."

"He's a wizard, like me." said Huntress Wizard. "You'd never guess we're related though, because we look nothing alike."

"He might even be someone I've met before." Finn, trying to imagine what Huntress Wizard's father could possibly look like. "Is he a good dad?"

"I wouldn't call him perfect, but he's not a terrible father either." said Huntress Wizard, trying to find the best way to describe him. "He may act foolish sometimes, but I still love him. He's the only family I've ever known."

"Oh, that must be nice..." said Finn, feeling a bit jealous.

Finn, Jake, Marceline, and Flame Princess all quietly stared at Huntress Wizard, as though she were the odd one out in the group.

"What, did I say something weird?" asked Huntress Wizard, not sure why they looking at her like this. "No daddy issues here."

The remark caused everyone to burst out laughing, finding the irony of the situation hilarious. As noon approached the party began to wrap up, and one by one Finn's friends said their goodbyes and left.

"I'm going to head home and rest." said Flame Princess, touching the red gem on her forehead. "I have this splitting headache right now. I've been getting them ever since that battle with Golb. They happen at the most random times too."

"Bye Phoebe." said Finn, waving goodbye to her as she left. "I hope you feel better."

"I'll be taking my leave as well." said Huntress Wizard. "I made plans with my father to help him restore the parts of the forest that were destroyed in Crimson King's battle with Ice King."

"Can't you stay a little longer?" asked Finn, sad to see her go too. "You're hardly ever around. It feels like we only get to hang out like this once in a blue moon."

"I can't afford to stay idle for too long." said Huntress Wizard. "I'm the protector of the forest, and right now the forest needs me."

"See you next time then." said Finn, sighing. "Whenever that is..."

"Bye Finn." said Huntress Wizard. "And you too Fern."

"This was fun, but I should probably get going too." said Marceline. "The clouds are about to clear up, so I can't stay out in the open like this."

"Oh yeah, whatever happened with that trail you followed to the Ice Kingdom the other day?" asked Finn, remembering the event. "Did you ever find out what made it?"

"Yeah, I did." said Marceline. "Just be careful next time you go to the Ice Kingdom."

"I'll keep that in mind." said Finn. "Bye Marcy."

"See you around birthday boy." said Marceline, leaning over to give Finn a kiss on the cheek. "I should probably go see how Simon is doing with his new setup."

"An-nyeong." said Lady Rainicorn, hugging Jake. "Nae-il boa-yo."

"Bye Lady." said Jake, hugging her back. "I'll see you too."

After Marceline and Lady Rainicorn had left, the only people remaining there were Finn, Jake, BMO, Neptr, Shelby, and Lumpy Space Princess, who began to clean up.

"So how does it feel being an adult?" asked Jake. "You're officially a man now."

"I don't feel any different." said Finn. "When I was a kid, I used to think that some kind of magical transformation would happen, but I still feel like the same person as before."

"Yeah, that sounds about right for early adulthood." said Jake. "When you get to late adulthood though, that's when you start to feel a little dead inside."

"Wait, what?" asked Finn, Jake's words causing him to pause for a moment.

"Oh nothing." said Jake, causally sweeping the comment aside. "So what else do you want to do today birthday boy?"

"How about an adventure?" said Finn. "This birthday wouldn't be complete without one."

"Neptr just used up the last of our flour to make your birthday cake, so we'll need to go buy more." said Jake. "How does an adventure to the grocery store sound?"

"Sounds good to me." said Finn. "We'll head to the Breakfast Kingdom. They always have the best ingredients."

"Want to bring Fern along?" asked Jake, gesturing to the Finn Sword impaled in the tree. "Take the Finn Sword. It'll be like he's right there with us."

"I don't know if that's a good idea Jake." said Finn. "There's a reason I haven't tried it yet. I'm scared of what might happen. What if I pull it out and Fern dies because he can't stay separated from the tree? I don't want to risk it."

"That's a good point actually." said Jake, not having thought of that. "How about someone else then?"

"Hey LSP, want to come shopping with us?" asked Finn, seeing that Lumpy Space Princess had just finished cleaning up. "It'll be fun."

"Sure, why not." said Lumpy Space Princess, floating over to them with Gumdrop in her arms. "Here, I don't know where this goes."

"Hey Gumdrop." said Finn, taking Gumdrop from Lumpy Space Princess. "You want to come too? It'll be your first adventure."

Finn, Jake, and Lumpy Space Princess set off with Gumdrop to the Breakfast Kingdom, leaving BMO, Neptr and Shelby to watch over the house while they were gone.

* * *

Making their way over to the Breakfast Kingdom, Finn, Jake, and Lumpy Space Princess entered one of many grocery stores there and began shopping for what they would need, pushing Gumdrop along in their cart as they did, but after leaving the store they quickly became lost.

"Man, that stupid roundabout thing sent us in the wrong direction." said Finn, clueless on where to go. "I can't find the exit."

"I swear, it's like this place changes every time we come here." said Jake. "I remember when it used to be just a hole in the ground. For one of the newer kingdoms, the Breakfast Kingdom sure grows pretty fast."

"It's because Breakfast Princess keeps adding new stuff." said Lumpy Space Princess. "Let's just ask someone for directions already."

"How about that guy over there?" said Jake, pointing to a man tending to a nearby orange tree.

"Hey mister, do you know the way out from here?" asked Finn, approaching the man. "We're a little lost."

"Just follow that path over there." said the man, pointing them towards the direction of the exit. "It'll take you right to the city gates."

Getting a good look at the man now, Finn and Jake could not help but feel that they recognized him from somewhere, his most notable feature being his short brown hair and the three pieces of what appeared to be rock candy sticking out from the top of his head.

"Hey, you look familiar." said Finn. "Have we met before?"

"Don't you remember me Finn?" asked the man. "It's me, Braco."

"Braco?" said Finn, surprised see the former suitor of Princess Bubblegum. "Last time we saw you, you got crazy messed up by some demonic magic. How are you back to normal?"

"I don't really know myself." said Braco. "Some weird purple stuff just came out of the sky one day and turned me back to normal."

"That must have been LSP's anti-elemental magic." said Finn, remembering how Lumpy Space Princess had solved the elemental crisis. "Everything her lumps touched got reverted back to its original state. In some cases it worked a little too well."

"Oh, so that was you?" said Braco. "I didn't know you could do that LSP."

"You're welcome." said Lumpy Space Princess, glancing up at him from her phone.

"That wasn't the only thing that got reverted." said Braco, pulling out a green orb from his pocket. "Whatever she did, it must have messed with the magic inside the soul stone Princess Bubblegum used to make the P-Bot. As soon as those lumps touched her, she came apart at the seams. This is all that's left of her now..."

"Look on the bright side, at least you're free from that demonic curse." said Finn. "Trust me, those aren't easy to get rid of."

"Yeah, you've got a fresh start now." said Jake. "So how did you end up working here?"

"Moving on after losing her was tough." said Braco. "I wandered aimlessly, looking for a new purpose in life. Eventually I ended up here in the Breakfast Kingdom. One thing led to another, and before I knew it I'm living here with Dorothy."

"Who's Dorothy?" asked Finn, not recognizing the name. "Is she your boss?"

"You probably know her as Breakfast Princess." said Braco. "Dorothy is her real name. She gave me a place to stay, and in return I started working for her. It's sort of like what you used to do for Princess Bubblegum."

"Oh, so you're her champion now." said Finn, understanding.

"You could say that..." said Braco.

"Man, how can you stand being around her all day?" asked Jake. "Breakfast Princess is okay in small doses, but that uptight personality of hers must get really annoying after a while."

"I don't mind really." said Braco. "She's not that bad once you get to know her. You just have to break through her shell first."

"Oh I see what's going on here..." said Jake, a smile coming to his face. "You've fallen for her, haven't you? How else can you put up with that?"

"No I haven't." said Braco, beginning to blush. "We're just friends. Well, maybe a little more than that..."

"I can see it all over you Braco." said Finn. "You like her. I've been there too with Princess Bubblegum."

"So what if I do?" asked Braco, finally admitting it. "How could I not? She's done so much for me. She took me in when I had nowhere else to go. She gave me a new purpose in life. Before now, I had spent my entire life blindly following the path my father and grandfather had set out for me, but she finally set me free from it."

"Well I think this place suits you nicely." said Finn, recalling how his own life had been given purpose by Bubblegum. "You're better off here than you were in the Candy Kingdom."

"By the way, did you know that today is Finn's birthday?" said Jake, changing the subject. "He turned eighteen, which means he's officially an adult now."

"Well happy birthday Finn." said Braco. "We should hang out sometime."

"Sure." said Finn. "We can do it next time we come here."

"Not to be rude or anything Braco, but you could really use a breath mint." said Jake, taking a few steps back. "You've got some serious egg breath."

"Oh, that must be from this morning." said Braco. "I got really hungry and ate part of Dorothy's dress. It tasted really good, but she scolded me for it afterwards."

"Is that the only part of her you've been eating..." asked Jake, giggling like an immature school boy with his mind in the gutter.

"Come on Jake, be polite." said Finn, elbowing Jake in the ribs. "Anyway, see you Braco. It was nice meeting you again."

After Finn, Jake, and Lumpy Space Princess had left, Braco continued his task of tending to the orange trees. As he did, Breakfast Princess silently approached him from behind, her dress still missing a large chunk from it.

"Hey there banana pop." said Breakfast Princess, hugging him from behind. "I need your help with something. My little sisters spilled a bunch of fruit juice in the reception hall. We have to clean it up before those diplomats from the Wildberry Kingdom arrive. We don't want them to see it and get the wrong impression..."

"I'll be right there Dorothy." said Braco, smiling and leaving with her.

As Finn rode back home on Jake's back, he took a moment to look through their groceries and make sure they had not missed anything.

"Looks like that's everything." said Finn, checking off the last item from their list. "Man, who would have thought Braco and Breakfast Princess would ever be a thing. It's such an odd pairing, but something about it just meshes so well. Is it because bananas are a breakfast food too?"

"Did you seriously not know?" asked Lumpy Space Princess. "They've been dating for like a year now."

"I didn't." said Finn. "What else have I missed?"

"That's what happens when you stay inside moping all day." said Jake. "The world keeps on spinning without you."

"Going to the grocery store was kind of a lame adventure." said Finn, still craving more. "Where else can we go today?"

"How about the Ice Kingdom?" said Jake. "We haven't been there in a while. Let's go see what Simon is up to."

"Oh yeah, Simon's a human too." said Finn. "If anyone can appreciate the significance of an eighteenth birthday, it's him."

Finn and Jake hurried back home with Lumpy Space Princess and Gumdrop, eager to drop off their groceries so they could go on a new adventure to the Ice Kingdom.

* * *

Finn and Jake now found themselves trekking through the snowy landscape of the Ice Kingdom, on their way to visit their friend Simon.

"Woah, what happened here?" asked Finn, coming to the remains of Simon's destroyed cabin. "Hey Simon, are you in there?"

"Doesn't look like it." said Jake, taking a quick look inside. "All his stuff is gone too. Did he move?"

Continuing their search for Simon, they ventured deeper into the Ice Kingdom, eventually arriving at the mountain where Ice King had once lived. As they drew closer, a large bird-like creature then emerged from behind it and swooped down that them.

"That's new!" said Finn, dodging the creature's talons. "What is that thing Jake?"

"I don't know, but it sure isn't friendly." said Jake. "Run for it!"

Being knee-deep in snow slowed down their escape, allowing the creature to catch up and grab hold of them with its talons. Flying back to the top of the mountain, it then dropped them down a chute which delivered them into to an icy prison cell, the same one that Ice King had used to imprison his captured princesses.

"Well this sucks." said Finn. "Getting kidnapped by a giant bird monster is not how I wanted to spend my birthday."

Finn and Jake immediately began looking for a means of escape, but before long two people entered the room, Simon and Marceline.

"Sounds like he caught someone." said Simon. "Burglars maybe?"

"Never mind, it's just Finn and Jake." said Marceline, seeing them in the cell. "What are you two ding-dongs doing here?"

"We wanted to come see Simon." said Finn "Since Gumdrop was taking her nap, it seemed like a good time, but that thing outside snatched us up."

"That _"thing"_ is actually Gunter, or more specifically what's left of him." said Simon, unlocking the cell door and letting them out. "He's a bit rowdy, but he seems to listen to Patience."

"I'm guessing that other trail must have been from Gunter." said Finn, putting the pieces together. "Wait, did you say Patience? As in the ice lady?"

"The one and only." said Marceline, sighing. "And Simon's new roommate..."

Entered the living room of Ice King's castle, Finn was met with the site of Patience St. Pim sitting on his chair reading a newspaper,.

"Oh great, it's you..." said Finn, not sounding happy to see her.

"Good to see you too." said Patience, sarcastically greeting him back.

"Didn't you freeze yourself again after your whole elemental plan backfired?" asked Finn. "What are you doing back here?"

"I did, but your bird friend Gunter dropped me off a cliff." said Patience. "I came crashing through the Professor's cabin."

"It's a good thing she showed up when she did." said Simon. "She was able to use her powers to stop Gunter's rampage, and actually managed to tame him. With my cabin destroyed though, I'm back to living in this old place again. Seems you can take the ice out of the king, but you can't take the king out of the ice."

"So what are you up to now Patience?" asked Finn, remaining suspicious of her. "You better not try any crazy elemental stuff again."

"I couldn't even if I wanted to." said Patience. "Two of the elementals are dead now, so whatever plans I might have had for them are no longer possible, at least not in this era. When an elemental dies, it can take a while before they're reborn into their next incarnation. Anywhere from a few decades to a few centuries. All I can really do now is wait."

"Then do us all a favor and refreeze yourself." said Finn. "It'll make things easier for both of us."

"I thought about doing that, but this era is just so fascinating I decided to stick around for a bit and study it some more." said Patience. "I've got all the time in the world, so why rush? It's not every day you get to see history in the making, especially with that Crimson King fellow and what he's been up to. As an archaeologist and historian, having a front row seat to the rise and fall of a mighty empire is like a dream come true."

"Archae-what?" asked Jake, having never heard the term before.

"Archaeologist." said Patience. "It's someone who studies ancient history and civilizations. Professor Petrikov here is an expert in the field. He's the one who taught me."

"Taught you?" asked Finn, turning to Simon. "Do you two know each other?"

"We do in fact." said Simon. "Before the Great Mushroom War, I was a professor of history and archaeology at a university, and Patience was one of my top students. I'd often bring her and the other students with me on digs across the world. She was there helping me in Scandinavia when I found the Ice Crown. We were trying to uncover the secrets behind its magical properties, and during one of our experiments she put it on. The crown didn't seem to affect her, so I thought it was safe and took it home to show my fiance Betty."

"And we all know what happened after that." said Marceline. "You put on the crown and began your slow decent into madness."

"That was the biggest mistake of my life." said Simon. "We should have just tossed that thing back into the ocean where that dock worker found it. Looking back on it now, I can only assume that the reason Patience was immune to the crown's effects was due to her being the reincarnation of its creator Urgence Evergreen, the object of the original wish made on the crown, thus making its wish magic redundant and useless on her. To think it would take Betty summoning Golb to finally set me free from it..."

"It's a shame what happened to her." said Patience, showing a hint of sorrow for Betty. "Fate sure drew us all a raw hand. You losing your mind and turning into Ice King, Betty fusing with Golb, me having to freeze myself to survive the war, and... whatever happened to Ivan I wonder? He probably died when the Mushroom Bomb went off."

"We lost so many friends." said Simon, remembering all his colleges from before the Mushroom War. "No amount of tears or wish magic can ever bring them back."

"What matters most is that you're here now." said Marceline. "Be happy that you survived, because now you have a chance at rebuilding your life and meeting new people."

"By the way Finn, Marcy told me that today is your eighteenth birthday." said Simon, shifting the topic over to something less depressing. "If I wasn't so busy moving all my stuff here, I would have come to your party. Congratulations on becoming a man. It only gets harder from here. If you ever need any advice, you can always ask me."

"Thanks Simon." said Finn. "Us fellow humans gotta stick together, right?"

"Hey, I'm human too." said Patience, reminding them of the fact. "I'm just a little blue in the face is all."

Finn, Jake, Marceline, and Simon found themselves unexpectedly laughing at Patience's joke, entering the lobby of Ice King's castle where the monstrous Gunter was now resting on the floor with Turtle Princess.

"Did you really tame Gunter with your ice powers?" asked Finn, impressed. "You've basically got a giant bird monster at your beck and call now."

"I wouldn't say he's completely tame." said Patience. "He's still got a bit of a wild side to him. As you saw earlier, I've been training him to act as our security system."

"Oh my sweet prince." said Turtle Princess, tearfully petting Gunter's head. "What has Crimson King done to you?"

"That's what I'd like to know too." said Patience, going over to examine Gunter. "For an artifact as powerful as the Ice Crown to have been damaged like this, it would have taken something equally powerful, if not more."

"It must have been that new sword Crimson King has." said Finn. "He called it the Wind Sword. Apparently, when he cut Gunter with it during their battle, it literally split him into two separate beings, Orgalorg and this _"ice thing"_."

"Hold on, did you say Wind Sword?" asked Patience. "As in THE Wind Sword?"

"You've heard of it before?" asked Finn.

"Of course!" said Simon. "Much like the Ice Crown, the Wind Sword is another ancient artifact with immense magic power. It was one of many we were searching for before the Mushroom War broke out, though we never found it."

"Well Crimson King did, and I don't think he'll be giving it up anytime soon." said Finn.

"I wouldn't expect him to either." said Patience. "They say the Wind Sword is very picky about its wielders. For Crimson King to be able to wield it to such a degree, he must be its type."

"What sort of powers does it have?" asked Finn, finding the topic interesting. "Swords are kind of my thing."

"As you can guess by the name, the Wind Sword's main ability is to control wind, similar to how the Ice Crown can control ice." said Simon. "Like other magical artifacts of the same ilk, the Wind Sword also possesses another ability. For the Ice Crown it was the ability to grant wishes, and for the Wind Sword, it's the ability to sever magical bonds."

"Sever magical bonds?" asked Finn. "How does it do that?"

"Its power is said to be capable of dividing the physical forms of magical beings into those of multiple lesser beings." said Simon. "According to one ancient legend, Glob himself actually used to be single entity, but one day he was cut with the Wind Sword and split into the four separate entities that he is today. I don't know much of that is true, but it matches up with what happened to Gunter. The Wind Sword severed the magical bond between Orgalorg and his penguin self, splitting them into two separate beings and downgrading Orgalorg into a lesser mortal being that could then be killed."

"You two really seem to know your stuff." said Finn. "Being an archaeologist sounds like fun."

"Ancient history has always fascinated me." said Patience. "That's why I became one."

As the conversation went on, Patience and Simon went off on a tangent where they discussed the various nuanced aspects of their field, causing Finn, Jake, and Marceline to zone out.

"Are you okay with this Marceline?" asked Finn, whispering to her. "It's because of Patience that Bonnie lost control of her powers and turned everything into candy, and now she's just chilling here with Simon like they're best buds."

"I'm not gonna lie, I didn't like it at first either." said Marceline. "But it wasn't like Patience purposely tried to kill Bonnie, so I think I'll just bury the hatchet. At least Simon has someone to keep him company now instead of him being all alone out here with nothing but Betty on mind. Even better, it's someone he already knows. Just look how happy he is. I don't think I've seen him laugh and smile like this since I was a kid. If Simon's happy, then I'm happy too."

Finn gave some thought to what Marceline had said about Patience, finally deciding to let his guard down around her.

"Maybe I was a little quick to judge you Patience." said Finn, apologizing for his earlier rude remarks. "You don't really seem like you're evil, so what were you really trying to accomplish with that whole elemental spell?"

"I guess you can say it's because I was lonely." said Patience. "I used to be friends with the previous incarnations of the elementals before they died in the Mushroom War. The thought of having them around again excited me, but their current selves didn't want anything to do with me, so I got a little desperate."

"Loneliness can make someone do crazy things." said Finn, recalling some of Ice King's previous actions. "It's not the first time I've seen it happen. You should have seen what Ice King used to do back in the day."

"You seem like a pretty chill person, no pun intended." said Jake. "If you're feeling lonely, you can hang with us. We get into all sorts of crazy shenanigans, so you'll never be bored with us around."

"You know what they say, variety is the spice of life." said Patience, accepting their offer of friendship. "It beats being stuck in a ball of ice."

"Hey Patience, you and Simon were both alive a thousand years ago, right?" asked Finn, a question popping into his mind. "You must know all about what the world was like back then, so I've been wondering, what's this Mushroom War you two keep mentioning?"

"Yeah, what was that stupid war about anyway?" asked Marceline. "I was only a kid when it happened, so I was too young to really understand what was going on."

"You want us to tell you about that?" asked Simon. "The details would probably bore you."

"I was part of that world too Simon, just like you." said Marceline. "I want to know why it was destroyed, and why my mom had to die..."

"As a fellow human, I feel like I should know my people's history." said Finn. "Who better the question of where we went wrong than two human historians?"

"Make yourselves comfortable." said Patience, sitting down on the couch with Simon. "We're going to be here for a while."

"Where to begin..." said Simon, thinking of how best to start the tale. "It all started when..."

Finn, Jake, and Marceline gathered around Simon and Patience to hear the answers to their burning questions, something which would take them the entire night.

* * *

 **With this chapter we finally get to see an important milestone take place in Finn's life, his eighteenth birthday. I was very surprised they never had Finn turn eighteen in the actual show. You would think that after spending so much time focused on Finn growing up that the show would end with him officially becoming an adult, but the closest we ever got to that was his seventeenth birthday in the episode Seventeen. Most people probably have their own versions of what Finn's eighteenth birthday would be like, so here is mine. The tone of this chapter was a little more light-hearted and slice of life than some of the previous ones, mostly because I wanted Finn's birthday to be a happy time for him, and what better way for him to spend it than doing something he loves, adventuring. In this chapter he went on two different adventures, one to the Breakfast Kingdom and one to the Ice Kingdom, and in the process made two new friends, Braco and Patience.**

 **Starting with Patience, I thought it would be a cool revelation if she and Simon had known each other the past, and originally I was thinking of having them be childhood friends, but I decided to go with a student and teacher relationship instead when I realized the age difference between them. The fact that Patience is one of the few survivors from the time of the Mushroom War, like Simon, Betty, and Marceline, yet barely got to do anything in the show was a huge let down to me. We could have learned so much lore about the pre-Mushroom War world from her, but instead of letting her stick around the writers just tossed her aside once they were done with her. Personally, I never really saw Patience as a villain character, but rather someone with misguided intentions. All she really wanted was to help the elementals live up to their full potential, but she completely went about it in the wrong way.**

 **As for Braco, yes that was indeed the same Braco from the season five episode The Suitor. I really wanted to bring him back somehow because the way that episode ended off with Braco being hideously deformed just felt so mean-spirited. They even went out of their way to give that episode its own special ending song about Braco. After what Lumpy Space Princess did in the final episode of Elements where she reverted everyone back to their original states, it got me thinking about how it might have affected other characters off-screen. Surely there must have been some people in Ooo who were just minding their own business when one day they suddenly get reverted back to an earlier state with no explanation. Just imagine the chaos and confusion it must have caused. Since Braco is technically a candy person, and thus falls under one of the four elements, Lumpy Space Princess' anti-elemental magic theoretically should have reverted him back to the state he was in before being cursed by the demon Ogdoad.**

 **I have not seen many stories that include Braco as a character, or even mention him at all, so I decided to put him in this story and even ship him with someone new. I went with Breakfast Princess as his new love interest, mostly because her design was always my favorite of the minor princesses, and because I thought they would make a really cute couple. On the surface, having Braco show up in this chapter may seem like nothing but fanservice, but there is actually another reason for it that will tie into something relating to the origins of the Banana Guards later on. Without giving away too much, something you should keep in mind is that every** **little detail I put into this story serves a purpose, no matter how small, whether it be to expand the lore of Adventure Time, or foreshadow future plot points.**


	11. Episode 10: Dungeon Party

Finn and Jake were currently bored out of their minds, and to help alleviate their boredom they had decided to play a rather unusual game of chess in their living room. Whenever they made a move, BMO would immediately hit them on the head with a foam mallet, the hope being that this would create enough of a distraction to prevent either of them from being able to plan ahead, adding an element of randomness and unpredictability to the game. Despite this new game mechanic however, the two were quickly beginning to grow bored of this as well.

"This blows." said Finn, making his move and then getting hit on the head by BMO. "I want to do something else now."

"What else is there?" asked Jake, now making his move and getting hit on the head as well. "We've done just about everything we can think of."

"Why not go on an adventure?" asked BMO, putting the foam mallet down. "Isn't that what you two always do?"

"It's been a while since we've actually had a proper adventure." said Finn, considering the idea. "Sure, there was that trip to the grocery store and the Ice Kingdom on my birthday, but that were pretty tame compared to the adventures we used to have."

"What we need is something with a little more danger." said Jake. "Let's go find a dungeon to explore."

"You just read my mind." said Finn, smiling. "Which dungeon though? Preferably one we haven't been to before."

"We'll see where the wind takes us." said Jake. "Not knowing will be part of the fun."

"Nothing like a good dungeon crawl to help us get back to our roots." said Finn. "I sometimes forget, we were adventurers before we were ever heroes."

"That's right." said Jake. "Crimson King may have taken away your spotlight as the Hero of Ooo, but adventure is the one thing he'll never take away."

"Hey Jake, you know what time it is?" asked Finn.

"Adventure Time!" said Jake, saying it together with Finn.

Finn went over to grab his backpack and the Night Sword, and after he and Jake finished packing some supplies they left their house in search of a new adventure.

* * *

Finn and Jake went on to spent a good part of the day looking for a new dungeon to explore, but much to their disappointment every single dungeon they came across was one they had already visited in the past. One by one the list was narrowed down, and after finding yet another familiar dungeon Finn began to feel discouraged.

"We've been to this one too." said Finn, pointing to a doodle on nearby rock. "I remembering drawing that doodle when we were here."

"Man, this sucks." said Jake. "I thought for sure there would still be plenty of dungeons left for us to explore. Did we really explore all of them?"

"What do you expect when you're the top adventurers in Ooo." said Finn. "It's like maxing out all your stats in a video game. Once you do that there's nothing else left to really give you a challenge. I think we've reached that point in real life."

"We could try looking outside our usual stomping grounds." said Jake. "There's bound to be a dungeon out there we've missed."

"There's also some dungeons we never finished." said Finn. "We could try going back to the Dungeon Train."

"No way!" said Jake, quickly shutting down the idea. "We are not going back there."

"It was just a passing thought." said Finn. "I still wish we kept some of that loot..."

Finn and Jake moved on and continued their search for a new dungeon, their quest taking them to parts of Ooo they seldom traveled. They eventually found themselves in a desolate field somewhere to the north of the Fire Kingdom, where there was a large hole that went straight down into the depths of the earth. Inside this hole, Finn could see an ancient stone stairway descending into the darkness, running along the walls in a spiral.

"Looks like a bottomless pit." said Finn, peering down into the dark abyss. "I think Flame Princess once mentioned something about this to me. She said the flame people call this place the _"Hole Near the Center of the World"_. I wonder how deep it is?"

"Only one way to find out." said Jake. "Into the abyss!"

Jake grabbed Finn and jumped headfirst into the abyss, feeling that it would be much faster to use his body to stretch all the way down to the bottom instead of taking the stairs. For a while it was fun, but after stretching for what felt like an eternity through the dark Jake began to wonder if there even was a bottom to the pit at all, until finally he felt his face touch something rocky below him that felt like solid ground. Exhausted from stretching so much and needing a rest, Jake released the part of his body that was still hanging from the very top of the abyss and allowed himself to return back to his normal size.

"I think we finally reached the bottom." said Finn. "How many seconds did that take Jake?"

"I don't know." said Jake, huffing and puffing. "I lost count a while back."

"It's so dark down here I can't even see my hand in front of my face." said Finn, reaching into his backpack for a flashlight. "Hang on, let me turn on my flashlight."

Turning on the light, Finn found that they had indeed reached the bottom of the pit, the stairs on the walls reaching their end there. Upon turning, he also noticed a large set of stone doors carved into the walls of the pit, its surface inscribed with magical runes.

"Check out that rad looking door." said Jake, pointing to the door. "That's got to be a dungeon."

Eager to enter the dungeon, Finn ran over to the doors and tried to open them, but no matter what he did they would not budge.

"Must be a magic door." said Finn, stopping to examine the runes on the door. "How do we open it?"

"With these things maybe?" said Jake, pointing to a set of stone circles arranged on the ground nearby. "They've got the same runes as the ones on the door."

Finn approached one of the stone circles and stepped on it, and as he did the runes on it lit up and began to glow blue. Seeing this, Jake followed suit and stepped on another stone circle, the runes on his lighting up and turning yellow.

"Well something happened." said Finn, seeing that some of the runes on the door had lit up in response to them stepping on the stone circles. "It still wasn't enough to open the door though."

"Maybe we need to step on all of them at once." said Jake, pointing to the two remaining stone circles. "Hang on, I got this."

Jake stretched out his body to reach the other two stone circles and put one leg on each of them, but to his surprise nothing happened and they remained inactive.

"Didn't work." said Finn, puzzled by the outcome. "Maybe it's only one person per circle?"

"We gotta find two more people then." said Jake. "This must be like one of those puzzles in a video game where you need a group to solve it."

"I get it." said Finn, the solution now becoming clear. "We need a group to enter this dungeon."

"You mean like a dungeon party?" asked Jake, the idea exciting him. "Dungeons are usually more fun with a group."

"Who should we bring though?" asked Finn. "This dungeon could be pretty dangerous, so we'll need someone skilled like us."

"What about Huntress Wizard?" asked Jake. "She seems like the kind of person who might be down for this sort of thing."

"Normally she would, but right now she and her dad are busy fixing the damage to the forest." said Finn. "I could ask Flame Princess since she lives close by. She's been dungeon crawling with me before, but I don't want to bother her. Not when she has a kingdom to run."

"Pickings are slim then." said Jake, putting his hand on his chin to think. "The only other person I can think of who fits the bill of what we're looking for is Crimson King, but I know there's no way you'll go for that. Got anyone else in mind?"

"I'm sure there's plenty of places where we can find people to recruit." said Finn. "Pick up groups aren't always the best, but we'll just have to take what we can get."

Leaving the dungeon for now, Finn climbed onto Jake's back and he stretched them back to top, where they would begin their search for two more party members.

* * *

In the weeks that followed the battle with Golb, a small group of humans from Founders Island had arrived on the shores of Ooo, where they built themselves a town beside the sea. These humans, though more willing to explore the outside world than the majority who had chosen to remain on Founders Island, were not quite as brave or fearless as the likes of Finn, Susan, and Frieda. Ooo was still a relatively new and unfamiliar place to them, and as such they approached their new surrounding with caution. While they rarely ventured outside the safety of their new colony, the other inhabitants of Ooo had greeted their new human neighbors with open arms. Among the first to form diplomatic relations with them was Crimson King, who had offered their colony protection in exchange for becoming part of his Candy Empire, to which they agreed. As a result, Crimson King's banners now hung alongside those of the humans in the colony, and in return some of their engineers had also gone to the Candy Kingdom to help in the construction of his new city.

Despite the timid and isolated nature of these humans, their town had become a major hub of activity, with people from all over Ooo coming to visit and trade with them, earning it the name of Traveler's Town. It was here that Finn and Jake had now come in search of two additional members for their dungeon party, feeling that this would be an ideal place to start. While there, Finn had decided to use the opportunity to visit his mother Minerva Campbell and speak with her in the communications center of the town. Being the son of Minerva, Finn's identity had become well-known to the humans of Traveler's Town, who treated him as somewhat of a celebrity whenever he came into town. Everywhere he and Jake went in Traveler's Town, a crowd of humans would follow them around, even waiting for them outside as Finn spoke to his mother in the communications center.

"So did you get my message?" asked Minerva, speaking to her son through a monitor in the communication center. "The one I left for you inside your little BMO?"

"I did." said Finn. "My friends found it before I did and threw a big surprise party for me. It would have been great if you came too."

"I would if I could, but my servers are too delicate to be moved from their home on Founders Island." said Minerva. "For the time being, this communication transceiver set up here in the colony is the only way I can communicate with you in Ooo."

"That sucks." said Finn. "At least I can still talk to you though."

"Since I missed out on your birthday party, would you like a present?" asked Minerva. "It seems you've lost your arm again, so why don't you head down to the tech center and have Dr. Gross give you a new one?"

"Dr. Gross?" asked Finn, surprised to hear her name. "She's here?"

"She showed up a few months ago and offered us her assistance." said Minerva. "Her technical expertise and knowledge of the land and its creatures have been a great help to us."

"Are you sure you can trust her?" asked Finn. "She might have ulterior motives for helping you."

"We were skeptical of her intentions at first, but so far her desire to atone seems genuine." said Minerva. "Don't worry, we've been keeping her busy and under house arrest. With all her time being devoted to helping us maintain the colony here, she won't have time for any of her crazy experiments anymore. Her science will now be put to good use."

"I still don't know if I'm comfortable letting her mess around with me." said Finn. "If I go in for a new arm, who knows what else she might do to me when I'm not looking."

"If it makes you feel any better, Dr. Gross and I go back a long way." said Minerva. "We've known each other since we were classmates in school. If I ask her to do it as a favor, I'm sure she'd love to."

"You know what they say, don't look a gift horse in the mouth." said Jake. "After all, she fixed up Tiffany again free of charge after they survived that explosion in underground. Near-death experiences have a way of changing people sometimes."

"Maybe some other time." said Finn, holding the stump of his right arm. "I'll try to come visit you whenever I can. I'm sure they won't mind, will they?"

Finn pointed to three girls wearing Helper hats, one with blonde hair, one with brown hair, and one with red hair, who were quietly laughing and whispering to each other from behind some nearby communications equipment.

"Of course they won't." said Minerva. "They're just my new Helpers, Abby, Becky, and Cathy. Don't be shy girls. Go ahead and say hello."

"Hi..." said the girl with blonde hair, nervously waving to Finn. "I'm Abby."

"Hello..." said the girl with brown hair, equally nervous as she waved to him. "I'm Becky."

"Hey there..." said the girl with red hair, having slightly more confidence than the other two as she waved to Finn. "I'm Cathy."

"Nice to meet you all." said Finn, waving back to them. "I'm Finn Mertens."

"My Minerva bots can't travel outside the range of Founders Island, so the three of them volunteered to be Helpers for the colony here." said Minerva. "Feel free to ask for their assistance if you need anything."

"We actually do need help with something." said Finn. "Jake and I came here looking for people to recruit for an adventure. Know anybody that might want to join?"

"An adventure you say?" said Minerva. "I'm afraid something dangerous like that might be beyond the scope of their duties. The people of this town don't seem to be of the adventuring sort like you are, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask around."

"That's a start." said Finn, turning around to leave. "I'll let you know how it goes the next time we see each other."

"How about a goodbye kiss?" asked Minerva. "Since I can't do it myself, would one of you girls like to do it for me?"

"A kiss?" said Abby, Becky, and Cathy, all blushing at the idea.

"It's okay." said Finn. "We can just do this instead."

Finn reached over to the monitor and put his hand through it, much like he had done on Founders Island, sharing some of his recent memories with his mother.

"My goodness, you've suffered so much grief..." said Minerva, a sad look on her face as she processed it all. "Losing your home, your other half, and that princess friend of yours... I had no idea you were carrying around all those burdens with you."

"It hasn't all been bad." said Finn. "I've lost some things, but I've gained some too."

"Not to mention he still has me." said Jake, chiming in. "Don't worry Finn's mom, as long as I'm around, I'll make sure he's safe."

"Bye sweetie." said Minerva, waving to him from inside the screen. "I love you."

"Bye mom." said Finn, pausing for a moment to reflect on those words. "Wow, it feels weird knowing I'll actually get to say that to my real mom on a regular basis now."

"Bye Finn." said the three Helper girls, seeing him off as he and Jake left the communications center. "Have a safe trip."

"Dude, those girls were totally crushing on you." said Jake, turning to Finn once they were outside. "You should ask them for their numbers."

"Jake, I'm not here to pick up girls." said Finn, remaining focused on the task at hand. "Remember, we're here to find two more members for our dungeon party."

Finn and Jake went on to spent the next several minutes asking around the colony for volunteers to join their dungeon party, but to their surprise everyone they asked refused their offer, preferring instead to remain within the safety of their town.

"Hey there, wanna come with us on an adventure?" asked Finn, turning to one of the humans in the crowd following them. "We could use some extra muscle."

"I think I'll pass." said the man, turning them down. "I could end up dying, or worse. I've got a family to take care of you know."

"How about you?" asked Finn, turning to another man in the crowd. "You look like someone we can rely on. Wanna to help us out?"

"Maybe tomorrow." said the man, slowly backing away. "I think I hear my mom calling me. Gotta go."

"Are you free today?" asked Finn, turning to a girl in the crowd. "Come adventure with us. It'll be fun."

"Aren't adventures like... really dangerous?" asked the girl, hesitating. "No way, I don't wanna to die. The voyage getting here was hard enough."

Finn's crowd of human followers slowly began to disperse, his desire to go on a potentially dangerous adventure scaring them off.

"No dice." said Jake, shaking his head. "Should we try somewhere else?"

"Well this didn't go as planned." said Finn, sighing. "Nobody wants to help us."

"Hey Finn." said a voice from behind them. "What do you need help with?"

Feeling as though they recognized the voice, Finn and Jake turned around, and to their surprise found Susan Strong and her friend Frieda, the two of having just entered town while carrying a large bag of loot.

"Susan!" said Finn, jumping for joy. "I haven't seen you since Founders Island."

"It's been a while." said Susan, lifting Finn off the ground and almost crushing him to death with a powerful hug. "How have you been?"

"I've been... mostly okay." said Finn. "What have you two been up to all this time?"

"We've been going on adventures." said Susan. "Check out all this cool loot we got from our last one."

"That's quite the haul." said Finn, impressed by all the treasure in the bag. "How long have you two been at this?"

"Ever since we came to Ooo." said Susan. "We even built ourselves a house by the lake in the Forest of Trees. The treasure just keeps piling up in our living room, just like it did in your tree house."

"That's actually not too far from where we live." said Finn. "We're practically neighbors."

"Susan has told me so much about you guys." said Frieda. "Hearing all the stories of your adventures, it actually made me a bit jealous. As a kid, I always dreamed of going on adventures myself, but for you two it's a normal everyday thing. My career as an adventurer may have gotten a late start, but I've already gotten to see some pretty amazing things here in Ooo."

"Good to know we helped inspire some up-and-coming adventurers." said Finn. "Too bad I can't really say the same for the other humans here."

"Tell me about it." said Frieda. "Whenever we come into town, they look at us like we're aliens from another planet, even though we're human just like them. You'd think that after braving the ocean to come here from Founders Island, something like a little adventure wouldn't scare them."

"You can't really blame them though." said Susan. "Before coming here, they had spent their entire lives on Founders Island, raised to fear the outside world. That fear doesn't just go away overnight. They're strangers in a strange land, so it's understandable why they're so cautious and want to take things slow and steady. The three of us, we're different. Instead of baby steps we jumped into the unknown head-first, and it's changed us into something they find strange and scary."

"Us... that's it!" said Finn, a smile coming to his face. "You two are just what we need!"

"Just what you need?" asked Susan, confused. "For what?"

"We came to this town looking to recruit people to help us with a dungeon." said Finn. "It's not just any dungeon either. It has this magic door that takes at least four people to open. We need two more people for a full group."

"You mean like a dungeon party?" asked Susan, understanding. "With different roles and everything?"

"Yes, exactly." said Finn. "You wanna join us?"

"Sure, why not." said Susan, accepting the offer. "I'm all for it. What about you Frieda?"

"Heck yeah." said Frieda. "A group dungeon means more challenges, and more loot."

"There's one problem though." said Susan, showing Finn the worn out state of their armor and weapons. "We need some new gear."

"We've got you covered there." said Finn. "There's plenty of old gear back at our house that you can use. I think there's even something that's just your size Susan..."

"Alright, but first we'll need to make a stop at our house to drop off all this loot." said Susan, pulling out a remote and summoning their ship with it. "It'll be faster if you come along with us."

Finn and Jake boarded the ship with Susan and Frieda, sitting at the rear with the bag of loot as the ship took off and headed for the direction of their home in Ooo.

* * *

After helping them drop off their loot at their house, Finn and Jake were now back at their own home with Susan and Frieda, searching around for some decent gear to give them. To Susan they gave a large piece of torso armor that had wings on its back and a horned helmet with a golden wig, which Frieda found to be rather silly.

"I think it's a bit much if you ask me." said Frieda, seeing how the armor looked on Susan. "Where did you guys find that thing?"

"We got it as a reward for solving a riddle Choose Goose gave us a long time ago." said Finn. "It's called the Armor of Zeldron. It gives you incredible protection, and it lets you fly too. It's too big for me or Jake to wear, and it's not really our style either, but it's perfect for Susan."

"It fits my chest too." said Susan, examining herself in the mirror. "I'm like an invincible bumblebee. I like bumblebees. They're my favorite insect. They always look so cute with their big huge bodies and tiny little wings."

"You can keep it if you want." said Finn. "You'll probably get more use out of it than we will. Lately we've been trying to clear out some of this old junk that's been laying around the house."

"Speaking of old junk..." said Jake. "Where's Billy's sword? I can't find it anywhere."

"Oh, I gave Nothung to Canyon." said Finn. "It was too big and heavy for me to use anyway. I'd much rather she use it than it just sit here collecting dust."

"So how is this thing going to go down?" asked Jake. "If we're forming a dungeon party, we'll need to pick out our roles."

"I'll be the tank." said Susan, grabbing a mace from a pile of weapons. "Using brute strength to plow through enemies is what I do best."

"I'll be the ranger." said Frieda, grabbing a crossbow. "I'm a twig compared to Susan, so fighting from a distance is my best option."

"I'll be the paladin." said Finn. "It's only fitting, since I used to be the champion of the Candy Kingdom."

"As for me, I'll be the rouge." said Jake, putting on a black cloth mask and equipping a belt with several throwing knives on it. "All those skills I picked up as a thief back in the day I will come in real handy."

"Great, so we've got a paladin, a rouge, a tank, and a ranger." said Finn, listing off the party roles with his fingers. "It would be nice if we had a mage too, but I think we're all set for now. Let's go conquer that dungeon!"

As the four of them left, they stopped by the living room to inform BMO and Lumpy Space Princess of their departure.

"BMO, LSP, we're going dungeon crawling." said Finn. "Don't burn down the house while we're gone."

"Good luck with that." said BMO, holding up blow torch and igniting it. "I'll be here practicing my welding."

"On second thought, you're coming with us BMO." said Finn, taking the blow torch away from him. "You can be our healer. We'll need someone to patch us up if we get hurt."

"Yay, I'm a healer." said BMO, picking up a first aid kit and climbing into Finn's backpack. "Boo-boos beware."

"It's up to you now to hold down the fort LSP." said Finn. "Gumdrop is with Marceline this week, so you'll have the whole place to yourself while we're gone."

"Bye." said Lumpy Space Princess, half listening as she sat on the couch watching television. "Have fun."

As soon as Finn, Jake, Susan, Frieda, and BMO were gone, Lumpy Space Princess pulled out her cellphone and began calling up all of her friends.

"Oh my Glob Melissa, you've got to get over here right now." said Lumpy Space Princess. "We're going to throw the biggest house party in Ooo."

Between Lumpy Space Princess throwing a wild house party, and Finn, Jake, Susan, Frieda raiding their dungeon, everyone was about to have the time of their lives.

* * *

After leading Susan and Frieda to the location of the dungeon, Finn and Jake now found themselves looking down into the abyss with them.

"Here we are." said Finn, gesturing to the abyss. "The entrance to the dungeon is at the very bottom."

"How deep does this pit go?" asked Frieda, peering into the darkness below. "I can't even see the bottom."

"Last time I stretched us down, but we'll be taking the scenic route this time." said Jake, pointing to the stairs. "The three of you together are going to be too heavy for me to carry."

"If only we hadn't left our ship back at our house." said Frieda. "I'd be able to fly us down to the bottom in no time."

Finn, Jake, Susan, and Frieda began their descent into the darkness along the ancient stone stairs, using BMO's screen as a light source to illuminate their path.

"We're in for a long climb." said Finn, sighing. "Anyone got some good stories to tell to help pass the time?"

"Why don't we swap adventure stories?" asked Susan. "I'm sure we've got plenty."

"Sounds good to me." said Finn. "I'd love to hear some of yours."

"For starters, were you two here when all that elemental biz went down?" asked Jake. "That whole thing was ba-nay-nays."

"Nah, we missed out on that." said Susan. "We stopped by some of the other islands first after leaving Founders Island, so by the time we got to Ooo it was already over. I bet Dr. Gross had a field day with it though."

"Have you been to any cool dungeons lately?" asked Finn. "Jake and I have been trying to find some new ones to explore."

"Yeah, we've visited a bunch so far." said Susan. "First there was the Dungeon of the Crystal Eye."

"That was one our first dungeons." said Finn. "It had this demon cat that knows _"almost"_ everything."

"Have you ever been to the Forest of Forgetfulness?" asked Susan. "We got lost in there for a while."

"The Forest of Forgetfulness?" asked Finn. "Where's that?"

"I don't remember." said Susan, failing to recall the location. "Anyway, we also visited a place called the Citadel of Seven Pillars."

"Haven't been there before." said Finn. "You remember where that one is?"

"Yeah, but it's pretty far away from where we live." said Susan. "The entrance is hidden under a cliff on the southwestern coast of Ooo. It's the one with the big tree on top of it."

"Ever been to the Dungeon Train before?" asked Finn. "That place was pretty fun, but it was also really addicting too."

"Addicting is an understatement." said Susan. "When we went there Frieda didn't want to leave, so I had to drag her out myself."

"I was having so much fun in there Susan!" said Frieda, remembering the adventure. "You didn't even let me keep any of the loot we got."

"The same thing happened with Finn." said Jake, laughing. "After his breakup with Flame Princess, it's all he wanted to do to help get his mind off of it."

"Whoever built that train must have had a lot of free time on their hands." said Finn. "And not a lot of friends..."

"We also visited the other dungeon that was nearby." said Susan. "I think it was called the Hall of Egress."

"Oh yeah, that place..." said Finn, remembering his ordeal in the Hall of Egress. "So which hallway did you two go down? There were three of them, but I only went down the middle one. Did the other two also have some crazy trap in them too?"

"We took the one on the left." said Frieda. "We ended up in some room where everything we did happened in reverse, and it got worse the longer we stayed there. That place was funky. After a while we just gave up, then we took the middle hallway like you did and got out pretty quick."

"Quick?" asked Finn, finding this hard to believe. "How quick?"

"It only took us a few minutes." said Susan. "The puzzle in that one wasn't that hard to figure out."

"Yeah, the puzzle..." said Finn, pausing for a moment. "Wait, what puzzle?"

"You know, that weird upside-down snowman statue." said Frieda. "If you rearrange it so that it's standing right-side up, it unlocks the door and lets you out."

"You've got to be kidding me..." said Finn, stopping in his tracks. "I did it the hard way, didn't I?"

"The hard way?" asked Susan. "Was there another way to get out besides that one?"

"I feel so dumb right now." said Finn, face-palming. "So that's what that snowman statue was for! The solution was right there in front of me the whole time, but I was just too blind to see it. Oh wait, now I get it. Blind... Well there goes several months of my life I'll never get back. I bet the same jokester who made that Dungeon Train designed all the puzzles in the Hall of Egress too. I can only image what kind of messed up challenge would have been waiting in the last hallway."

Finn and Susan went on to spend the next several minutes listing off dungeons and other places of interest they had visited, telling numerous stories of their exploits throughout Ooo. As time went on, the two pairs of adventurers quickly began to realize that they shared much in common with each other, the enjoyment they found in their shared company helping them to pass the time. After stumbling around through the dark for what felt like hours, they finally reached the bottom of the stairs, where Finn proceeded to lead them directly to the four stone circles laid out before the dungeon entrance.

"Alright, now we each have to step on one of these stone circles." said Finn, pointing to the stone circles on the ground. "That's how we open the door."

As they stepped onto the stone circles, the runes inscribed on them lit up in different colors to differentiate each party member, Finn's being blue, Jake's being yellow, Susan's being green, and Frieda's being red. Once all four circles were activated, the corresponding runes on the entrance of the dungeon lit up in response and the giant stone doors finally opened, revealing a dark passageway behind them.

"See, what did I tell you?" said Jake. "Just like a video game."

Upon entering the dungeon, the massive doors closed shut behind them, followed by several torches along the walls lighting up by themselves, guiding the group to a central area with a large mural depicting a multitude of symbols and emblems. On an empty section of the mural, four new symbols suddenly appeared, a blue butterfly, a yellow dog, a green bee, and a red dog, recording the arrival of the four new adventurers who had just entered the dungeon.

"I'm guessing we're not the first ones to have come here." said Finn, examining the other symbols and emblems on the mural. "Some of these look pretty recent. I wonder who these were."

Above their symbols were four others, which Finn could only assume had been from a previous dungeon party that had already come and gone. Representing this previous group was a red comet, a black witch hat, and two grey elephants, one facing to the left, and the other facing to the right. Moving on from this area, Finn, Jake, Susan, and Frieda navigated the maze-like corridors of the dungeon in search of their first challenge, eventually finding it when they entered a room filled to the brim with monsters.

"What now?" asked Frieda, the monsters immediately turning their attention to the group and surrounding them. "We've reached a dead end, and we're surrounded."

"Time for us to get to work Susan." said Finn, drawing the Night Sword. "Let's wreck these monsters and clear us a path."

Susan rushed in first, using the wings on the Armor of Zeldron to propel herself straight into the thick of the monsters, where they all began focusing their attention on her. This allowed Jake and Frieda an opening to slip away while Finn assisted Susan in cutting cut the horde of monsters. Once they were all defeated, a magical light appeared on one of the walls of the room, opening up a portal that led to another part of the dungeon.

"That looks promising." said Frieda, examining the portal. "Maybe we are going the right way."

After entering the portal and being teleported to another part of the dungeon, Finn and Susan stopped for a moment to check for any injuries they might have sustained in their battle.

"Healing time!" said BMO, popping out of Finn's backpack with a first aid kit. "Hold still."

"It's only a couple scratches." said Finn, not finding any serious damage. "We'll be fine."

"I said it's healing time!" said BMO, aggressively putting band-aids over their minor cuts and scrapes, certain that he was being helpful. "There, all better now."

Moving on to the next room, the group now found themselves faced with a deep chasm and no way to cross it, the rope bridge that had once spanned it having long since been broken.

"This one looks like it requires a little more finesse." said Jake. "I think this is where we come in Frieda. We're gonna fix that bridge. You take this side, and I'll take the other."

Jake stretched himself to the other side of the chasm, where he got to work fixing the part of the bridge there, while Frieda handled the part on her side. When she was done, she tied one of the ropes to an arrow and fired it over to Jake's side with her crossbow, which Jake picked up and tied to his end. Once the ropes from both sides of the bridge were fixed, they pulled the bridge back together and lifted it to its former position, allowing everyone else to use it to cross over to Jake's side. After doing so, another magical portal appeared on the wall in front of them, and like with the previous one it took them to another area of the dungeon where their next challenge awaited them.

"I see how it is." said Finn, catching on to the nature of the dungeon. "Each new room we enter has a randomly generated challenge based on each of our skills and roles. It's a dungeon that forces you to work together as a group to advance through it, the exact opposite of the Dungeon Train."

"If it's all random, then that means this dungeon might be completely different each time we visit it." said Susan. "No two visits would ever be the same."

"It's the perfect dungeon!" said Frieda. "No matter how many time we beat it, we'll never get bored because it will just keep changing along with us."

"I can already tell I'm going to like this place." said Finn, smiling. "Onto the next room! We're not stopping until we've had our fill!"

Room after room, Finn, Jake, Susan, and Frieda continued their advance through the cylindrical layout of the dungeon as it generated new challenges for them, and after having gathered a sizable amount of loot they decided to call it a day. Being too lazy to leave by going all the way back to the entrance, Susan used the powers of her Armor of Zeldron to make a convenient exit for them by busting a large hole through the wall of the dungeon which led directly outside into the dark abyss.

"Everyone grab on tight to me." said Susan, flying out through the hole with her armor and ascending through the air like a Valkyrie. "I'll fly us out of here."

While this was going on, a large centipede-like monster was in hot pursuit of them, but as soon as it emerged from the exit hole they had made and came into contact with the outside, it immediately turned into dust as the hole began to magically seal itself.

"I'd say this was a good run." said Frieda, looking through their bag of loot as she clung to Susan with Finn and Jake. "Look at all this cool loot we got."

"We are the dungeon masters now." said BMO, crawling out from the bag of loot. "Just remember, I had the most important job."

"Wanna do this again sometime?" asked Finn. "We could make this a regular thing."

"I'm down for it." said Frieda. "This was the most fun I've had in years."

"You know, the four of us are so much alike it's scary." said Jake. "We should hang out more."

Celebrating their victory over the dungeon, as well as their newfound friendship, Finn, Jake, Susan, and Frieda flew off into the horizon, satisfied with their adventure.

* * *

 **With this chapter we get to see the return of Susan and Frieda, two underutilized characters who pretty much disappeared from the show after Islands. We can only assume that they proceeded go on some adventures of their own after leaving Founders Island, so I thought it would be a cool idea to have them show up again and be adventuring buddies with Finn and Jake. When coming up with the premise of this chapter, I went back to one of Adventure Time's deepest roots, Dungeons and Dragons, and like Pendleton Ward I took some inspiration from it. Much like something you would find in a video game, Finn, Jake, Susan, and Frieda pretty much had to form a party and take on different roles in order to beat a dungeon that requires teamwork, the complete opposite of what happened when Finn was in the Dungeon Train.**

 **A fun little throwback in this chapter that some of you might have noticed is that the Armor of Zeldron which Finn gives to Susan was the same one that he and Jake obtained in the season two episode Blood Under the Skin. I always wondered what they did with that armor and why they never used it again after that, considering how powerful it was, so I had them give it to Susan, since it seemed like it would be a good fit her. Strangely enough in the storyboard for Blood Under the Skin, though not in the episode itself, when Jake is listing off all the lady heroes he knows about one of the names he mentions is Susan the Strong. This was several episodes before Susan makes her first appearance in the show, which has me wondering if the writers originally had bigger plans for her, but then decided to scrap them.**

 **Another point of note in this chapter is that Susan and Frieda are starting to become almost like mirror versions of Finn and Jake the more they adventure in Ooo, with Susan being an alternate Finn, and Frieda, who happens to wear a dog hat, being an alternate Jake. Regarding** **the mention that Finn and Susan made to the Hall of Egress, there is something to be gleaned from the different ways in which they escaped from it and what it says about them individually.** **One possible interpretation of the events of the season seven episode The Hall of Egress is that it represents Finn's journey to reaching maturity.** **Finn leaving the Hall of Egress through the hard and difficult path shows that at that point in the story he is still growing and has not yet reached maturity. Susan on the other hand has, allowing her to easily solve that particular challenge in the Hall of Egress.**

 **I think the upside-down snowman statue in the Hall of Egress has a bigger purpose than we are initially led to believe. The way I interpret it, there are actually two ways to escape from the Hall of Egress, the short and easy way being the snowman puzzle, and the long and hard way being what Finn went through. These two methods of escaping represent mindsets from two different types of people who might find themselves trapped in the Hall of Egress and how they each react to their situation. Those who are not done fully maturing yet, such as Finn, will likely have a mindset that blinds them to the plain and simple solution right in front of them, thus forcing them to solve it the hard way, while those who are already done maturing, for example Jake, will have a mindset that allows them to see that situation with more clarity.**

 **I have a feeling that this was why they did not have Jake go with Finn inside the Hall of Egress and instead had him wait outside. If Jake had gone with Finn, he would have realized the trick to the puzzle rather quickly and solved it, and as a result Finn would not have learned anything from the experience.** **Finn escaping the hard way is something he needed to go through. If Finn were to go back the Hall of Egress now after all the growth he has been through now, he too would likely realize the solution that he had previously been blind to, signifying that he has now matured.**


	12. Episode 11: Big Sister

With their newfound friendship, or more precisely their newly rekindled friendship, Finn, Jake, Susan, and Frieda began spending more time together in the weeks that followed their dungeon raid, going on many more adventures together as well as inviting each other to respective homes to hang out on a regular basis. The two-story home of Susan and Frieda that they had built for themselves next to a lake in the Forest of Trees had a certain charm to it that greatly reminded Finn and Jake of their own home, it being haphazardly constructed from various pieces of mismatched building materials much like theirs had been. On this particular night, Finn and Jake had come over to their house for a sleepover, having brought several movies with them to watch on BMO.

"That was the best movie trilogy ever!" said Susan, having just finished the movie. "Pre-Mushroom War movies were really something else."

"I know!" said Frieda. "I didn't expect that twist in the third one. To think that they were actually long-lost siblings whole time. It's a good thing they found out sooner rather than later, because it would have been really awkward if they ended up falling in love."

"Jake and I used to watch those movies all the time when we were kids." said Finn. "We would always try to reenact the battle scenes and pretend we were fighting each other with laser swords."

"I liked being the princess." said BMO, ejecting the video tape from his body. "Together we would save the galaxy."

"Let's bring over a scary movie next time." said Jake. "How about the one with the killer clown?"

"Does it have to be that one?" asked Finn. "I hate clowns."

"You hate clowns?" asked Jake. "Since when?"

"Since you brought all those clown nurses over to the tree house that one time." said Finn. "I'm still traumatized from that."

"What, you're scared of clowns now?" asked Jake. "How can anyone be afraid of clowns? That's so dumb."

"Not as dumb as Susan being afraid of shadow people." said Frieda. "You should have seen the prank I pulled on her the other day when I dressed up as one and woke her up in the middle of the night. She was so scared she started throwing stuff at me from across the room."

"Sounds like something Jake would do." said Finn, laughing. "He pulls mean pranks like that on me all the time."

"That wasn't funny Frieda!" said Susan, turning red with embarrassment as she remembered the incident. "Shadow people are scary!"

"Shadow people aren't real Susan." said Frieda, sighing. "They're just an urban legend."

"They are real!" said Susan. "They'll grab when you least expect it and drag you away into the darkness. I still have nightmares about them from when I was living in the underground."

"Anyways, it's getting kind of late." said Frieda. "I'm going to bed."

"Goodnight Frieda." said Susan. "We'll try to keep the noise down."

After Frieda went upstairs to her bedroom, Finn, Jake, Susan, and BMO continued goofing off in the living room below. One by one however they all grew tired as well, BMO shutting down for the night to recharge and Jake falling asleep on the couch in the living room, leaving Finn and Susan as the only ones still awake. As Finn tried to fall asleep in his sleeping bag, Susan sat down on the floor beside the pillow fort they made in the living room and began staring off into space.

"Can't fall asleep?" asked Finn, going over to Susan and sitting down next to her. "Is it because you're thinking about shadow people now?"

"No, it just takes me a while to fall asleep sometimes, especially on nights like these when I'm so full of energy." said Susan "I'm a bit of a night owl."

"Same here." said Finn. "Whenever I have trouble sleeping, I usually play some BMO until I feel tired. It seems we both have similar sleeping habits. Who knows, maybe we're actually long lost siblings, just like in that movie."

"That's probably not too far from the truth." said Susan, laughing at Finn's joke. "Being that we're kind of from the same family."

"Same family?" asked Finn, surprised to hear this. "Are you saying we're related?"

"You could say that." said Susan. "The humans on Founders Island originally started out as small group of settlers, so it's not surprising that a lot of their descendants would end up sharing the same blood. In fact, you're mom and I are actually distant cousins; first cousins once removed to be exact."

"That explains a lot." said Finn. "When I first met you, I felt an odd connection between us, like there was something vaguely familiar about you."

"That's probably because I used to come visit your mom all the time when you were a baby." said Susan. "You were all she would talk about. She even showed me that weird birthmark on your butt. You were a really chubby baby, you know that? Since I never had any siblings, I liked pretending I was your big sister. That's why I was the one Dr. Gross sent after you when you went missing."

"Is that how you ended up in Ooo?" asked Finn, curious to know more. "I'm guessing something must have gone wrong, because when Jake and I found you, you were living with all those fish people in the underground and didn't remember anything."

"It took me a while, but I finally remember what happened back then." said Susan. "Wanna know? You were there too."

"A baby story about me?" asked Finn, sounding excited. "Do tell."

Finn huddled closer to Susan, eager to learn more about his origins and find out what had caused the loss of her memories after being sent to rescue him as a baby.

* * *

When Dr. Gross had sent out Kara to retrieve the infant Finn and his father Martin Mertens, she immediately boarded one of the advanced flying craft stationed on Founders Island and took off to sea, searching for any signs of the raft that they had been spotted leaving on. In order to locate them, Kara would have to travel past the Guardian and out into the open ocean, and as her ship approached the Guardian her implant began transmitting a special pass code, one that all the Seekers had inside their implants that could be used in cases of emergencies such as these to notify the Guardian not to attack them. After receiving her pass code, a text message appeared on the computer screen inside her ship telling her that the Guardian had acknowledged her request.

PASS CODE RECEIVED. TALOS UNIT ZERO STANDING DOWN.

After granting her permission to pass, Kara continued on with her search for Finn and Martin, but after finding no trace of them around the other islands she then tried using the navigation computer on her ship to calculate the most likely direction their raft could gone in based on ocean currents and wind direction. After the computer plotted out the most likely trajectory, Kara followed it for some time until it eventually took her to the edge of a large landmass, which the map labeled as the Mainland. Flying in for a closer look, Kara did her best to avoid the numerous rocky cliffs surrounding the shore, which was no simple task due to the low nighttime visibility. As she snaked her way around two narrow rocky pillars, a large green serpent-like creature suddenly emerged from the dark waters below and stopped right in front of her ship.

"Hi there!" said the green sea creature, enthusiastically. "I've never seen you around here before. My name's Whipple. Who are you?"

The sudden appearance of this strange creature caught Kara by surprise, forcing her swerve away at the last second to avoid hitting it. As a result of this, she ended up flying into the gap between the two narrow rocky pillars she had tried to avoid earlier, clipping off both wings of the ship.

"That didn't sound good." said Kara, hearing a metallic scraping sound as the craft began spiraling out of control and plummeting towards the beach. "What on Earth was that thing?"

Pulling up on the controls to straighten out her descent, Kara braced for a crash landing as the ship scraped up against the ground and was shredded to pieces. When it finally came to a stop, Kara emerged from the smoking cockpit onto the sandy beach to assess the damage.

"So much for this thing." said Kara, sighing. "Frieda was always the better pilot. Wait a minute... who's Frieda?"

Kara stopped for a moment and realized that there seemed to be a sizable gap missing from her memories which she could not recall. Brushing the feeling aside, she decided to make camp for the night in the wreckage of her ship, it being too dark for her to continue the search.

* * *

When morning finally arrived, Kara continued her search for Finn and Martin on foot, starting at the mouth of a nearby river that emptied out into the ocean and following it inland. This eventually took her deep into a forest, where she found the broken remains of a raft on the river banks, and a baby laying there along with a teddy bear and bread stick wand.

"There you are!" said Kara, happily running towards the baby. "Finn!"

As Kara approached the baby, a hungry bear emerged from the forest and growled at her, having set its sights on Finn as its next meal.

"I don't think so!" said Kara, undeterred. "I didn't come all this way just for Finn to be turned into bear poop."

Kara ran straight at the bear and punched it in the face, causing it to back away somewhat, but seeing that it still refused to leave Kara then began throwing pieces of debris and logs at it, her unnatural strength finally scaring it off. As the bear fled, one of the logs that Kara had thrown hit a nearby tree and broke it, the fearsome display of strength being witnessed by two people who happened to be passing by at the time, Forest Wizard and a small green plant-like girl.

"Daddy, what is that thing?" asked the girl, holding onto Forest Wizard's robe and pointing towards Kara. "I've never seen a beast like that before."

"I don't know Diana." said Forest Wizard, taking the girl by the hand and leading her away. "It looks like some kind of angry gorilla. We'd best get out of here."

As the father and daughter fled, Kara made her way back to Finn, who was now crying because of the terrifying experience.

"Shh, don't cry Finn." said Kara, picking up the baby Finn. "You're big sister Kara is here to protect you now."

Recognizing the familiar face of Kara, Finn calmed down and stopped his crying, her presence reassuring him.

"You've gotten a lot heavier since the last time I saw you." said Kara, lifting Finn up into the air. "What has Dr. Minerva been feeding you? I'll have to ask her when we get back. Since my ship is all busted up, all we can do is just sit here and wait for rescue. I'm sure they'll send someone to come get us, eventually..."

Little did Kara know, nobody would be coming to rescue them, as this was around the same time that Dr. Gross would accidentally release a deadly virus which would decimate a majority of the humans on Founders Island, a disaster which they would remain blissfully unaware of.

* * *

As the days went by, Kara and the infant Finn would grow very attached to each other, doing their best to survive in the wilderness of Ooo while they waited for rescue. Not only did Finn have Kara to keep him company, but he also had his favorite teddy bear, but unfortunately for him it was now beginning to deteriorate due to all the damage it had sustained during its rough voyage.

"Oh no, it looks like Mr. Bear is falling apart." said Kara, picking up the worn and tattered teddy bear. "Maybe your mom can fix him when we get home."

As Kara tried to push the stuffing back into its body, the head fell off, causing Finn to start crying again.

"Or not..." said Kara, now trying to stick its head back on. "No, don't cry Finn. Here, I've got an idea..."

Kara removed the stuffing from inside the head and made a hole in its face, after which she put the remaining piece onto Finn's head.

"There, now it's a hat." said Kara. "Mr. Bear may be gone, but at least this way the two of you will always be together. It even has your name on it."

Feeling how warm and snug the hat was, Finn ceased his crying, the hat giving him a sense of comfort and safety knowing that his stuffed animal companion would continue to be with him in spirit.

"I'm feeling extra creative today." said Kara, seeing inspiration in the forest around her. "Let's see what else I can make around here."

Spotting a nearby tree, Kara broke off a dead branch from it began carving it with a sharp piece of metal she had salvaged from the wreckage of her ship, and as she did she began to sing.

 _Here you are baby Finn, cast away from your home_

 _Past mighty Talos did you drift, far out into the deep blue sea._

 _From the islands we both came, and now here we both still roam_

 _Where is your daddy, and why did he flee?_

Once Kara was done carving the branch, the result was a crudely-made wooden flute, which she then used to play a soothing melody for Finn that put him to sleep on the bed of leaves she had made for him.

"It's not a masterpiece, but it's something." said Kara, appreciating her shoddy craftsmanship. "Frieda taught me how to make these, though hers always turned out way better. She learned how to do it from one of her shop classes."

Upon saying Frieda's name again, Kara was overcome by a sense of sadness and regret that she could not explain. That night as Kara slept curled up beside the infant Finn to keep him warm, she wondered why the name Frieda kept popping up in her memories and what its significance could be.

* * *

Several weeks had now gone by for Kara and the infant Finn, yet nobody had come to rescue them. The two now lived in a makeshift camp in the woods that Kara had created from salvaged pieces of her ship, and the reality was slowly starting to sink in for her that this would likely be their home for the foreseeable future. Even so, Kara had grown quite accustomed to their new lifestyle, finding the experience of living in the wilderness to be somewhat liberating. Although their living conditions were not what she was used to on Founders Island, Kara had managed to adapt and make due, now using leaves as diapers for Finn after they had run out. Food on the other hand would soon become an issue, as the battery for bread stick wand she had found with Finn had finally run out.

"Eat up Finn." said Kara, splitting the final bread stick in half and sharing it with Finn. "This is our last one."

With the loss of the bread stick wand that had been their main source of food, it would now become a necessity for Kara to start foraging for more, which could prove difficult while also having to care for Finn. First and foremost though she would need to replenish their supply of drinking water, which was a relatively simple task to accomplish due to the presence of the nearby river.

"I'm going to run down to the river real quick and refill these." said Kara, picking up two large plastic jugs. "I can't carry you and these at the same time, so you'll have to stay here. Don't worry though, I'll be back before you know it. I promise."

Kara leaned over to give Finn a kiss on the forehead and left, climbing over a nearby hill to reach the banks of the river that were located on the other side. After filling the jugs with water from the river, Kara set them down and took a moment to appreciate the beauty of the surrounding landscape, it being unlike anything she had ever seen on Founders Island. It was then that she noticed an old drain pipe sticking out from one of the hills on the opposite bank which the waters of the river flowed into and disappeared. For a brief second, Kara thought she could see the figure of a woman with long black hair wearing a white dress and a blindfold over her eyes standing within the drain pipe, beckoning to Kara from the darkness to come closer before disappearing. Puzzled by this, Kara begun to wonder if perhaps her mind was playing tricks on her after being stuck in the wilderness for so long, so she dunked her head into the river to wash her face and take a quick drink. Feelingly refreshed, Kara examined her reflection in the water, which suddenly began to change and take on the appearance of a young girl wearing a dog-shaped hat.

"You betrayed me Kara!" said the girl in the reflection. "How could you! I thought we were friends!"

As the hallucination spoke to Kara a flood of memories came rushing back to her, causing her to remember everything that happened when she last saw her best friend Frieda. Dr. Gross had used the implant on her head to control her actions and force her to stop Frieda from escaping, and after that had altered her memories to make her forget about her friendship with Frieda, deeming it a distraction from her duties as a Seeker. Now that Kara had been away from Dr. Gross and the islands for so long, the brainwashing had finally begun to wear off.

"No, I didn't mean to!" said Kara, speaking to the image of Frieda. "Dr. Gross made me do it! She was controlling me!"

"I trusted you Kara, and you ratted me out!" said Frieda, crying. "Not only that, you got to leave the island and see the outside world like I always wanted to, while I'm still stuck here! Way to throw salt in the wound!"

As Kara grappled with the guilt over what she had done to her friend, she looked up and saw the same woman from before standing inside the drain pipe, once again beckoning for her to come closer before disappearing. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Kara swam over to the drain pipe for a closer look, but after taking a peek inside she saw no trace of the strange woman, instead finding what appeared to be several pool floaties clustered together in a group within the drain pipe.

"Hello?" said Kara, climbing out of the water and into the drain pipe. "Is someone here?"

Inside the drain pipe Kara could see that there was a point beyond the pool floaties where the waters of the river flowing into it seemed to drop off into a deep dark chasm. As she turned around to leave the woman appeared once again, and the shock of seeing her seemingly materialize right beside her without making a single sound nearly gave Kara a heart attack, but even more so when she finally got a closer at her. Aside from the white dress and blindfold that she wore, her entire body was pitch-black, appearing as though it were composed of an amorphous shadow-like substance that seemed to blend in with the surrounding darkness.

"What the..." said Kara, feeling her blood go cold with fear. "That's it, I'm out of here!"

No longer wanting to stick around, Kara made her way back towards the entrance of drain pipe as fast as she could, but in the process she bumped into the cluster of pool floaties she had seen earlier. Feeling them brush up against their leg, Kara looked down and noticed that the same amorphous black substance which the shadow woman was composed of seemed to be coming out from those same pool floaties and forming her body, which then liquefied and retreated back into them, leaving only her the white dress and blindfold behind. For a moment everything was silent, until the pool floaties suddenly burst open to reveal several shadowy-black masses with teeth. Now utterly terrified, Kara made a break for it, but before she reach the sunlight the shadowy creatures all swarmed her.

"Let me go!" said Kara, panicking as the creatures began dragging her back into the dark with their long spindly arms. "What are you creatures!"

Unfortunately for Kara, she had just stumbled upon the creatures known as the Lub Glubs, and this particular group had a nasty habit of luring prey into their lair by using their shadowy bodies to mimic the form of a woman. Once their prey entered their dark domain, they would then spring their trap and drag them away into the darkness to devour them, Kara having just become their latest victim. As Kara struggled to escape their grasp, she noticed that they were being pulled closer and closer to the drop-off point at the back of the drain pipe.

"No, I can't die here!" said Kara, desperately trying to reach out towards the rays of light still shining in from the outside. "I have to go back! Finn..."

Bracing herself for the fall, Kara and the Lub Glubs went over drop-off point and were sent tumbling down a large waterfall. On the way down Kara collided with some metal pipes, one of them hitting her on the head and damaging her implant, causing it to malfunction. Lucky for Kara, the violent fall had resulted in the Lub Glubs releasing their grip on her, but she was now lost and alone underground. Before passing out from the injury to her head and losing her memories, the last thing Kara saw was a group of fish-like humanoids wearing animal hats cautiously approaching her. Due to her own animal hat, these creatures known as the Hyooman Tribe would mistake her for one of their own, and so bring her unconscious body back to their village to nurse her back to health, where she would then live among them.

* * *

Back at their makeshift camp, the infant Finn eagerly awaited the arrival of his big sister Kara, but sadly for him he was waiting for someone who would never return. As the minutes slowly turned into hours, Finn quickly grew bored and restless, now wanting to go explore the surrounding area on his own. As Finn crawled away from the camp, the leaf diaper he was wearing got caught on a branch and came undone. Feeling the sudden urge to go to the bathroom, Finn squatted over the leaf diaper on the ground and made boom-boom on it. When he had finished doing his business Finn tried to stand back up, only to then fall backwards and land right in his own boom-boom, causing him to become stuck to the leaf. Frustrated by his predicament, Finn started crying, wishing that his big sister would show up already to change his diaper. Finn's cries eventually managed to attract the attention of two talking yellow dogs who happened to be passing through the area.

"Joshua, is that a baby?" asked one of the dogs, pointing towards Finn. "What's a baby doing all the way out here?"

"I don't know Margaret." said the other dog. "They say there's an angry gorilla on the loose somewhere in these woods. What if this is its baby?"

"That's no gorilla baby." said Margaret. "It doesn't have any hair on its body. Maybe something is wrong with it?"

"What do you want baby?" asked Joshua, walking over to Finn and picking him up. "Why are you crying? Margaret, this baby won't tell me what's wrong with it, and it's stuck to a leaf, and it stinks."

"Give it here Joshua." said Margaret, taking Finn from Joshua and kissing him on the forehead, which seemed to calm him down. "This baby needs love and kisses to be happy. There, see? Now it's happy."

"You just kissed a boom-boom baby, so don't expect any more sugar from me sweetheart, until we wash your dirty, dirty face." said Joshua. "So what kind of creature is this baby?"

"I don't know, but there's a tag on its hat." said Margaret, examining the name tag attached to the outside of Finn's bear hat. "It says his name is Finn."

"So it's a Finn, eh?" said Joshua, taking a closer look Finn. "Was he abandoned, or did the gorilla eat his parents?"

"What should we do with him Joshua?" asked Margaret. "The poor thing probably won't survive out here all on his own. He can't be much older than our Jake and Jermaine."

"I know, why don't we adopt him!" said Joshua, deciding this on the spur of the moment. "Look, he even comes with accessories."

Joshua picked up Finn's wooden flute and bread stick wand that were on the ground nearby, showing them to Margaret.

"I guess we have room for a third child." said Margaret. "Either way, we can't just leave him out here to die."

"Hello baby Finn." said Joshua, holding Finn up to his face. "We'll be taking you home with us. Starting today, we're your new family now."

With their minds now set on adopting Finn, Joshua and Margaret took him back to their home, and so ended the tale of how Finn and Susan came to be in Ooo.

* * *

As Susan finished telling Finn the story of how she had come to Ooo and lost her memories, he could not help but feel overjoyed, now knowing the final piece to his origins that had been missing.

"So it was you Susan..." said Finn, his eyes filled with tears. "You're the one who left me on the boom-boom leaf."

"I meant to come back for you, but then life threw me a curve ball." said Susan. "If only I hadn't lost my memories, just think of all the time we could have spent together."

"Well now we have all the time in the world." said Finn. "To think this whole time you and I were actually family."

"We may not technically be siblings, but we might as well be." said Susan. "Aside from your mom and dad, I'm probably the last living relative you have. Everyone else in our family got wiped out by the virus that hit Founders Island. The two of us being stuck on Ooo when we were actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because if we had gone back to Founders Island like we were supposed to, we probably would have died along with the rest of our family."

"Glad to have you back, big sister." said Finn, smiling. "I can still call you that, right?"

"If it makes you happy, then sure." said Susan, smiling. "I'll be your big sister for as long as you want."

"Then how does forever sound?" asked Finn, hugging Susan. "From now on, I'll always think of you as my big sister."

With both of them now fully aware of their past history together, the bond between Finn and Susan would only grow stronger. It did not take long for them to fall asleep after this, the two sleeping curled up next to each other on the floor of the living room, mirroring how they had slept in the wilderness of Ooo many years ago.

* * *

 **This was probably one of my favorite chapters to write, mostly because of how heartwarming it was, and because it finally reveals the last piece to Finn's origins that we were still left wondering about, which was how he ended up on the boom-boom leaf in the woods where Joshua and Margaret found him. The name of this chapter being Big Sister is sort meant to be a callback to the season six episode Little Brother, the title of this chapter being a like a reverse version of that one. This chapter also solved a small plot hole in the show, which was how Joshua and Margaret somehow knew that Finn's real name was actually Finn, because of the name tag his teddy bear which Susan turned into his signature bear hat.**

 **Speaking of Finn's hat, Pendleton Ward once said that Finn got his hat after skinning an evil bear as a baby, though this was likely meant as a joke or hyperbole. The events of this chapter where Susan fights off that bear to save Finn and later makes his hat out of the teddy bear make this statement still ring somewhat true.** **As for the flute Susan made, which Joshua and Margaret found along with Finn and the bread stick wand, it is meant to be the same flute that Finn is seen using throughout the show. On the topic of music, I had envisioned that short little song that Susan sang to baby Finn while making the flute as having a similar tune to the Song of Storms from the Legend of Zelda video game series, which I felt was fitting because of all the references to the Legend of Zelda that Adventure Time has in it.**

 **Before the Islands miniseries came out, there were all sorts of theories going around about Susan possibly being Finn's mother or maybe even his sister, but in a way Susan was kind of like both in the flashback from this chapter. Going back to the season two episode Blood Under the Skin, it had a moment that could be seen as retroactive foreshadowing to the events of this chapter, which was the scene where that large white ape-like creature mistakes Finn for its baby, referencing how Susan was mistaken for a gorilla while she was living in the woods with Finn. The season six episode Dark Purple could also be seen as foreshadowing to this portion of Finn's past, because it involves Susan going on a mission to rescue a baby, likely because it subconsciously reminded her of her original mission to save Finn and bring him back to Founders Island.**

 **The whole backstory and relationship between Finn and Susan is actually kind of similar to the one between Superman and Supergirl from the DC comics. Much like how Susan is a distant cousin of Finn, Supergirl is the cousin of Superman, and like Supergirl she was sent out to go find her cousin when he was a baby, and as he grows up they form a sibling bond with each other. Not only that, but Susan and Supergirl also share the same first name, Kara. I doubt this was a coincidence, but rather a subtle nod by the writers of Adventure Time hinting that Finn and Susan might actually be cousins. Finn and Susan may not be actual siblings in this story, but they are still related by blood. The thing that Susan mentions in this chapter about how a lot of the humans on Founders Island are related by blood due to being descended from a small group of settlers is similar to a real-life example in the country of Iceland. In Iceland, most of the population there is actually descended from a small group of settlers that came to the island several centuries ago, and as a result a large portion of the present day population now shares some small genetic relation to each other.**

 **On a final note, this chapter also reveals that the name of the Guardian that protects Founders Island is actually Talos, which is a reference to a figure from Greek mythology. In Greek mythology, Talos was a giant bronze automaton, basically a robot, which circled the seas surrounding the island of Crete three times a time, his job being to guard it from pirates and raiders, as well as to protect the maiden Europa who lived there. In other versions of his story, Talos was also the last member of an ancient race of metallic beings known as the bronze race. The Guardian in Adventure Time seems like it could be a reference to Talos, so I thought it would be fitting to make that his actual name.**


	13. Episode 12: It Takes A Village

It was now morning as Finn and Jake stood outside their home with BMO and Lumpy Space Princess, where they had gathered to see Marceline off after she had handed Baby Gumdrop over to them for the day.

"I'll see you guys later." said Marceline, opening up her umbrella before stepping out into the sunlight. "Right now I'm going home to rest for a bit, then later I have that concert I'm doing in the Boneyard Kingdom. It's been a while since I've done a show, but I promised Skeleton Princess I'd do one for them."

"Have fun." said Finn, holding Gumdrop with one arm. "We'll be waiting here for you when you get back."

"Bye Gumdrop." said Marceline, leaning over to kiss Gumdrop on the forehead. "Be sure to keep a close eye on her Finn. She's been a real handful lately."

"With four pairs of eyes watching her, what could go wrong?" asked Jake. "You can count on us Marceline."

"I hope so." said Marceline. "Seriously guys, try not to lose her."

After Marceline had left, BMO and Lumpy Space Princess went back inside the house, while Finn and Jake stayed outside with Gumdrop.

"You ready to have fun today Gumdrop?" asked Finn. "I know I am."

"What should we do first?" asked Jake, thinking for a moment before an idea came to him. "I know, why don't we go visit Tree Trunks? It's been forever since we've had one of her apple pies."

"That's a great idea." said Finn, excited by the thought. "We could even introduce her to Gumdrop."

"Alright you two, get in the pouch." said Jake, increasing the size of his body and creating a pouch-like opening on his stomach. "We're doing this kangaroo style.

Once Finn and Gumdrop were secure inside the pouch, Jake began stretching out his legs to cover more ground with each step, heading for the home of Tree Trunks.

* * *

Using his shape-shifting abilities, Jake was able to reach their destination in a matter of minutes, and upon entering the clearing in the forest where Tree Trunks lived Finn disembarked from the pouch, allowing Jake to shrink himself back down to normal size.

"Here we are Gumdrop." said Finn, kneeling down to talk to Gumdrop, who was still inside the pouch. "Now get ready to meet an old friend of ours."

As Finn and Jake approached the house, they saw that Sweet P outside chopping wood and stopped to say hello.

"Hey there Sweet P." said Finn, greeting the giant baby man. "What are you up to?"

"I'm helping out with the chores." said Sweet P. "Tree Trunks can't do them by herself anymore because she's getting too old."

"That's what a good boy would do." said Finn, praising him. "It looks like you've grown a few inches too. No more Lich stunting your growth."

"That's not all, I'm stronger too." said Sweet P, chopping four pieces of wood all at once in an impressive display of strength. "I feel like a brand new Sweet P now that the "bad" me is gone."

"Is Tree Trunks here?" asked Finn. "We came to see her."

"She's inside making pies with Mr. Pig." said Sweet P, pointing to the kitchen door. "Just knock and she'll answer."

"We also brought a guest with us." said Jake, gesturing to Gumdrop in his pouch. "Say hello to Baby Gumdrop."

"Hello Gumdrop." said Sweet P, waving to her. "I didn't know babies could be that small."

"Not all babies are big like you Sweet P." said Finn. "You're a special case."

"What about Gumdrop?" asked Sweet P, examining Gumdrop. "Is she special too?"

"I don't know..." said Finn, thinking about it for a moment. "I like to think she is, just like her mom was."

"If big babies like me are special, maybe she'll turn into one too." said Sweet P. "Then we'll both be big babies."

"That sure would be a sight to see." said Finn, finding the thought amusing. "Who knows, maybe someday the two of you will even be giants..."

Leaving Sweet P to continue chopping wood, Finn and Jake made their way over to the door to the kitchen and knocked, and a few moments later Tree Trunks answered it.

"Why hello there Finn and Jake." said Tree Trunks, greeting them in her country accent. "What a pleasant surprise seeing you two here."

"We wanted to come see how you were doing." said Finn. "It's been a while since we last came to visit."

"Yeah, we used to come here all the time." said Jake. "Also, we miss eating your apple pies."

"If its apple pie you boys want, then you're in luck." said Tree Trunks. "We just finished making a fresh batch. You're welcome to come have some."

"I hope you don't mind our little guest." said Finn. "We wanted to introduce her to you."

"Now who's this cute little thing?" asked Tree Trunks, immediately captivated Gumdrop's adorable nature as she poked her head out of the pouch. "My heart is about to explode."

"This is Baby Gumdrop." said Finn. "She's Princess Bubblegum's daughter. We're taking care of her until she grows up, whenever that might be..."

"Princess Bubblegum had a baby!" said Tree Trunks, surprised to hear this. "That's news to me. And I thought I had some wild secrets..."

"It's a long story..." said Finn. "We can tell you all about it if you want."

"Come on in." said Tree Trunks, gesturing for them to enter. "You can tell me over some apple pie."

As Tree Trunks led them over to the kitchen table, Finn could hear her bones creaking and popping as she walked, a sign of her advanced age.

"You seem a little worse for wear." asked Finn, seeing that Tree Trunks was in pain. "Are you doing okay Tree Trunks?"

"It's these old bones of mine." said Tree Trunks, sitting down in a chair. "They ache all the time now. I just can't move like I used to."

After sitting down with Tree Trunks and Mr. Pig at the table, Finn and Jake went on to spend the next several minutes talking with them and catching up on recent events in their lives.

"After that we adopted Gumdrop, and now we're raising her as our own." said Finn, having just finished telling the story of how he found Gumdrop. "I hope she grows up to be just like her mother someday. You'll be the future ruler of the Candy Kingdom, won't you Gumdrop?"

Gumdrop glanced up at Finn and frowned at the thought, hiding herself away in Jake's pouch.

"Maybe you shouldn't count your chickens before they hatch." said Tree Trunks, seeing Gumdrop's reaction. "Not all children will end up being just like their parents. I know I didn't."

"Well Jake and I did." said Finn. "We followed in our dad's footsteps and became adventurers just like him."

"Ah yes, Joshua and Margaret." said Tree Trunks, recalling Finn and Jake's parents. "It still feels like only yesterday when they would drop you and your brother Jermaine off here for me to babysit whenever they were too busy with work. My how time flies..."

"That's how we got introduced to your world famous apple pies." said Jake. "We've been hooked ever since."

"That brings back so many memories." said Finn, starting to feel nostalgic. "We would always go exploring in the woods behind your house, even though you told us not to because you were afraid we'd get a rash from poison ivy. That's actually how we first met Princess Bubblegum. One day we went too far into the woods while exploring and stumbled upon her candy orchards where she was tending to the trees."

"I still remember the look on her face when you walked up to her and said hello." said Jake, laughing at the memory. "She looked like she had just seen a ghost. What was up with that?"

"What about that time we took Tree Trunks with us to the Evil Forest?" asked Finn, remembering one of his earlier adventures. "We were out looking for the Crystal Gem Apple, and when we found it she took a bite and popped like a balloon. For a while we thought she was dead."

"You were dead Tree Trunks!" said Mr. Pig, shocked to hear this. "When was this?"

"Oh this was before we met Mr. Pig." said Tree Trunks. "Don't worry, I wasn't actually dead. I just ended up in that Crystal Dimension where I became the ruler of all those fine Crystal Men."

"Tree Trunks went a little mad with power, so I had to force her to spit out the Crystal Gem Apple so she would turn back to normal." said Finn. "After that we all went home and ate some apple pie. I miss those days..."

"Times sure have changed." said Tree Trunks, reminiscing about the old days. "Things were much simpler back then..."

Finn got up from his chair to stretch for a moment, which is when he noticed a large stack of gifts sitting on the other side of the room, all of them wrapped in red.

"What's with all those gifts Tree Trunks?" asked Finn, curious. "Is it your birthday?"

"Oh, you mean those?" asked Tree Trunks, pointing to the stack of gifts. "They're from Crimson King."

"Crimson King?" asked Finn, finding this hard to believe. "Why would he send you gifts?"

"Well why wouldn't he?" asked Tree Trunks. "We're all such good friends with him, especially Sweet P. Those two get along like a house on fire. He's even been teaching Sweet P about being a hero."

"Sweet P and Crimson both came from the Lich, so in a sense that would make them like brothers." said Finn, figuring that the two likely bonded over this shared connection. "Seems Crimson King has a heart after all, even if it's one made of black licorice..."

"Maybe he will turn out to be a good ruler in the future." said Jake. "Or maybe he'll still just be a massive jerkwad..."

"Anyway, it was nice stopping by to talk to you Tree Trunks, but I think it's time we got going now." said Finn. "We've got some errands to run today."

"Bye-bye now." said Tree Trunks. "Before you go, take some apple pie with you for the road."

"Thanks Tree Trunks." said Finn, taking an apple pie from the table and reaching over to remove a spoon that had become stuck to Gumdrop's face. "There, all set."

"Come visit again sometime." said Tree Trunks. "You too little Gumdrop."

Finn and Jake left the home of Tree Trunks, waving goodbye to everyone before disappearing into the forest to continue on with their day of looking after Gumdrop.

* * *

Although they enjoyed having her around, Finn, Jake, BMO, and Lumpy Space Princess would soon learn just how much of a handful Gumdrop could really be as they went about their day. It began when Finn, Jake, BMO, and Lumpy Space Princess had gone outside to do some laundry and started playing with Gumdrop, tossing her up and down into the air using a bed sheet as a makeshift trampoline.

"Are you having fun Gumdrop?" asked Finn, preparing to toss her up again as she laughed. "Here comes another one... Catapult!"

The force behind the toss ended up being far greater than the four of them had anticipated, causing Gumdrop to fly off into the air and land on the roof of their house, still laughing as it happened.

"Oh no, Gumdrop!" said Finn, quickly rushing over to get the ladder. "Don't worry, I'll get you down from there."

After this, Finn took Gumdrop inside the house where it would be much safer and began playing hide and seek with her. He spent several minutes searching around for Gumdrop and finally found her when he entered the kitchen, where she was sitting in a large mess of flour she had created on the floor.

"Gumdrop, did you do this?" asked Finn, seeing that Gumdrop was now covered in flour. "This is gonna take forever to clean up."

Finn looked down at the floor and noticed that Gumdrop had made some snow angels with the flour, which he could not help but find adorable.

"Oh well, I can't stay mad at you Gumdrop." said Finn, sighing. "You just wanted to make some art."

After this Gumdrop would need a bath, so Finn handed her off to Jake while he cleaned up the mess she had made in the kitchen.

"Alright Gumdrop, let's get you cleaned up." said Jake, bringing Gumdrop into the bathroom. "How about a nice bubble bath?"

Pouring some bath liquid into the tub, Jake set the bottle down on the edge and went over to grab Gumdrop, who was now playing with the roll of toilet paper beside the toilet by unraveling it into a pile on the floor. After picking her up and putting her in the bath tub, Jake then turned his attention to fixing the roll of toilet paper she had just unraveled, but Gumdrop, still in a playful mood, now reached for the bottle of bath liquid. As she grabbed the bottle it tipped over and fell into the water, causing the entire bathroom to erupt in a flood of bubbles which spewed out into the hallway.

"You sure are a troublemaker today, aren't you?" said Jake, sticking his head out from the bubbles. "On the upside, now you'll be extra clean."

Once Jake had managed to get Gumdrop cleaned up, and it was now time for BMO to put a new set of baby clothes on her.

"Time to get dressed Gumdrop." said BMO, laying Gumdrop down on the floor and taking out some baby clothes from the drawer. "We got you a new outfit."

BMO tried to slide the outfit onto Gumdrop, but she proved to be very uncooperative, kicking and thrashing about the whole time. This resulted in BMO getting tangled up inside the baby outfit that was meant for Gumdrop, who then crawled away wearing only her diaper.

"Someone help!" said BMO, calling out for assistance. "I am trapped!"

Once BMO was freed and Gumdrop was fully dressed, it was now time to feed her, a task which had fallen to Lumpy Space Princess.

"Is this even the right food?" asked Lumpy Space Princess, picking up a jar of baby food and scooping some out with a spoon. "Okay Gumdrop, open wide. Here comes the train."

As Lumpy Space Princess moved the spoonful of baby food over to her mouth Gumdrop defiantly turned her head away, refusing to eat it. She tried several more times but with little success, until Gumdrop just swatted the jar of baby food off the tray of her high-chair, causing it to splatter all over Lumpy Space Princess.

"Fine, be that way!" said Lumpy Space Princess, losing her patience. "That means you'll be missing out on this delicious baby food."

Lumpy Space Princess then tried a spoonful of the baby food, and upon tasting how awful it was spit it out. After much difficulty, she was eventually able to find something that Gumdrop liked and got her to eat it, and when her meal was finished Finn took over again. Wanting to show her more of the outside world, Finn decided to take her with him on a trip to the outdoor market that he and Jake often visited.

"See this place Gumdrop?" asked Finn, as he carried Gumdrop around in a baby sling strapped to his chest. "This is where Jake and I come to buy our adventuring gear. The shops and stalls here sell all kinds of stuff you won't find anywhere else. Just don't touch anything."

Walking around the marketplace with a pink gum baby attracted a lot of attention from the customers shopping there, who were all captivated by Gumdrop and kept asking Finn questions about her. Gumdrop seemed to enjoy all the attention she was getting, but despite her cute appearance she also had a mischievous side to her. As Finn stood in front of one of the stalls and browsed its wares, Gumdrop reached over to the side and pulled on one of the ropes holding the tent together. This caused the entire tent to come tumbling down and knock over several displays, creating a domino effect that spread throughout the entire marketplace, much to the shock of Finn and the other customers.

"Gumdrop, I told you not to touch anything!" said Finn, horrified by what she had just done. "Now I'm going to have to pay for all this! You're lucky we have all that extra loot laying around from those dungeon crawls we've been doing with Susan and Frieda."

After the mishap at the marketplace, Finn took Gumdrop back to the house and handed her off to Jake while he gathered some gold from their treasure pile to go pay for the damage she had caused. As Jake watched over her he turned his back for only a moment, but that was all it took because when he turned back around he found that she was gone.

"Seriously, I turn my back for one second!" said Jake, annoyed as he began searching around the living room. "Where did you go this time Gumdrop?"

Jake then spotted the lower half of Gumdrop's body sticking out from the top of a clear glass vase, having somehow crawled into it and become stuck inside, her body slowly molding into the shape of the vessel.

"Are you trying to shape-shift Gumdrop?" asked Jake, shrinking himself down and climbing into another nearby vase, humoring her. "Hey, this is actually pretty cozy."

Realizing that the best way to keep Gumdrop out of trouble would be to keep her occupied with something to do, BMO came up with a perfect solution. Using his software, he created a game on his system for her comprised of various shapes and colors that she could change by pressing the buttons on his interface.

"Look Gumdrop, I made a game just for you." said BMO. "Isn't it fun?"

Enjoying the game, Gumdrop then became curious as to what would happen if she pressed all buttons at the same time, and giving into her impulses she began randomly pressing them in rapid succession, much to the dismay of BMO.

"Wait Gumdrop, don't press them like that!" said BMO, trying to stop her before she could damage something vital. "You're going to break something!"

It was too late however, as the rapid pressing of the buttons by Gumdrop caused BMO's software to glitch up and freeze, resulting in a system crash. BMO then fell face first onto the floor where he remained motionless, and hearing all this Finn and Jake ran over to see what had happened. Going into a panic, Finn and Jake swiftly got to work trying to fix and reboot BMO, in the meantime handing Gumdrop off to Lumpy Space Princess, who was now tasked with changing her diaper.

"Why do I have to be the one to do this?" asked Lumpy Space Princess, complaining as she put Gumdrop down onto the changing table. "I've never changed a diaper in my life."

Lumpy Space Princess reluctantly changed Gumdrop's dirty diaper and cleaned her up, after which she struggled to get a new diaper onto her because she would not stop moving, causing the diaper keep sticking to itself and become fastened the wrong way.

"Will you hold still!" said Lumpy Space Princess, becoming frustrated. "Be grateful that I'm even cleaning up your pink doo-doo at all!"

Several failed attempts later, Lumpy Space Princess finally managed to get the diaper on the right way, after which Gumdrop let out a yawn, now beginning to feel tired. Putting Gumdrop to bed for the night, Finn, Jake, BMO, and Lumpy Space Princess took a much needed break, the four of them plopping down on the floor next to each other in the living room.

"Thank Glob it's over." said Finn, looking up at the ceiling with a tired expression. "She finally tired herself out."

"It was so much easier when you first brought her here and all she did was eat, sleep, and poop." said Jake. "At least she still sleeps like a rock and stays quiet at night."

"What happened to our sweet Baby Gumdrop." said BMO. "She is turning into the Devil!"

"How can that thing be Princess Bubblegum's daughter?" asked Lumpy Space Princess. "If this is what it takes to raise a child, then I'm never having kids."

With Gumdrop now fast asleep, Finn, Jake, BMO, and Lumpy Space Princess could use the time to rest and relax, utterly exhausted from their day of looking after her.

* * *

It was now nighttime as Finn and Jake sat in their living room playing video games on BMO, passing the time until Marceline came back from her concert. Realizing how long it had been since the last time anyone had gone upstairs to check on Gumdrop, BMO decided to remind Finn and Jake.

"Time to check on Gumdrop." said BMO, a digital clock appearing on his face to show the time.

"Don't worry, LSP is watching her now." said Finn.

"Nuh-uh, I thought you guys were watching her." said Lumpy Space Princess, walking out of the kitchen and into the living room.

"I'll go check." said Jake, getting up from the couch.

Going upstairs to the second floor and entering Gumdrop's room, Jake was surprised to find her crib empty and went back down to the living room with a worried look on his face.

"What's the matter Jake?" asked Finn, noticing Jake's expression.

"Gumdrop's gone." said Jake. "She isn't in her crib."

"She probably just woke up and started exploring the house again." said Finn. "Check the other rooms upstairs."

Jake went back upstairs and checked every other room on the second floor, but still found no sign of her.

"I don't want to freak anybody out but..." said Jake, pausing for a moment. "She's not in any of the other rooms either."

"Gumdrop likes to play hide and seek sometimes." said Finn. "Maybe she wants us to come find her."

Finn, Jake, BMO, and Lumpy Space Princess then split up and began a widespread search of the house for Gumdrop, checking every possible nook and cranny they could think of.

"Gumdrop, are you down here?" asked Finn, checking under the kitchen sink.

"Anybody in here?" asked Jake, going up to the attic of the house.

"Gumdrop?" asked BMO, lifting up the toilet seat in the bathroom and looking inside.

"Did you get lost in the couch?" asked Lumpy Space Princess, looking under the couch cushions.

Still unable to find her, Finn, Jake, BMO, and Lumpy Space Princess met back up in the living room and began freaking out.

"We lost Gumdrop!" they all said in unison, panicking and assuming the worst.

"Oh man, what are we going to do!" said Jake. "Marceline will be back any minute now!"

"She's totally going to kill us when she find out!" said Finn, the thought of facing Marceline's wrath scaring him. "We have to find her before she gets back!"

"We haven't checked the yard yet." said Jake, taking a look out the window. "Maybe she got out somehow?"

"If she did, then who knows where she might be!" said Finn, imagining all sorts of potential dangers that could befall Gumdrop outside. "We'll never find her out in the dark like this!"

"I guess we should have seen this coming..." said Jake, sighing. "Four idiots and a baby; it was only a matter of time."

"How could we let this happen?" asked BMO, breaking down into tears. "We are terrible parents!"

"Why weren't you watching her LSP?" asked Finn. "She wouldn't have gotten out if you had just stayed with her like you were supposed to."

"What, I got hungry?" said Lumpy Space Princess. "I didn't really see the point in staying up there if was just going to be asleep the whole time anyway."

"Why am I not surprised..." said Finn, sighing. "This is the same LSP that lost a three hundred pound baby man while babysitting him."

"What do you expect me to do then?" asked Lumpy Space Princess. "Put a leash on her?"

"Why would Gumdrop just wander off on her own like this?" asked Finn, unable to wrap his head around it. "Doesn't she have any common sense?"

"She's just baby you dingus!" said Lumpy Space Princess. "In case you didn't know, babies aren't exactly the smartest things in the world."

"Not Gumdrop." said Finn, unable to accept this. "She's special."

"No she isn't." said Lumpy Space Princess. "Babies don't just become smart overnight Finn. It takes time for them to learn. I bet even you did brainless things as a baby that made your parents worry."

"But Gumdrop should be smarter than the average baby." said Finn, still in denial. "After all, her mom was a genius..."

"Would you get your head out of your butt already." said Lumpy Space Princess, groaning. "What, you think if you wait long enough Gumdrop is just going to magically turn back into Princess Bubblegum? When are you finally going to get it? That's never gonna happen because Gumdrop isn't Bubblegum! Accept it, Bonnibel is gone!"

"No need to be so harsh LSP." said Jake. "Give him some time. He's still processing it."

"No Jake, she's right." said Finn, reluctantly agreeing with her. "Even though I didn't want to admit it, there was some part of me that was still holding out hope Bonnie would somehow return through Gumdrop, and then everything would just go right back to how it was before. I was only lying to myself."

"Things can never go back to how they were Finn." said Lumpy Space Princess, now starting to tear up. "I know we want them to, but they just can't. Those days are gone now. Just like a bad breakup, the only thing we can do is pick up the pieces and move on with our lives."

"Maybe this is Gumdrop's way of telling us that she doesn't want to live in her mother's shadow." said Finn. "I got so caught up in the idea of Gumdrop basically becoming Princess Bubblegum 2.0 that I never even stopped to consider the possibility that she might not even want that. Running a kingdom is a heavy burden for anyone to bear. It just wouldn't be fair to Gumdrop to dump all her mom's baggage onto her just because we want to relive some golden age."

"We have to accept that the world we live in is different now." said Lumpy Space Princess. "Whether we like it or not..."

"Maybe it's better this way." said Finn. "With Crimson King running the Candy Kingdom now, Gumdrop can grow up having a happy, carefree life; the kind of life Bonnie always wished she could have had. Even if she never becomes a princess or a candy elemental like her mom was, she'll still be our Gumdrop."

"Now that we've cleared our heads a bit, how about we try this one more time." said Jake. "We'll do another sweep of the house, and after that we'll go check the yard, and if we still don't find her there we'll go ask Huntress Wizard to help us track her down."

Before they could do anything though, Marceline entered the house and appeared right behind them, having returned from her concert in the Boneyard Kingdom.

"Hey guys, I'm back." said Marceline. "Did you miss me?"

Finn, Jake, BMO, and Lumpy Space Princess immediately froze up in fear, not even daring to turn around.

"Oh, hey Marcy." said Finn, breaking the silence. "So... how did the concert go? Was it fun?"

"Yeah, it was a blast." said Marceline. "That concert was just what I needed to finally get my mojo back."

"That's good to hear." said Finn, trying not to make eye contact.

"So where's our little pink goblin at?" asked Marceline.

"About that..." said Finn, now beginning to sweat.

"You lost her, didn't you." said Marceline, reading him like a book.

"Are you mad?" asked Finn, preparing for the worst.

"Please don't kill us!" said Jake, breaking under the pressure.

"Guys, I'm not mad." said Marceline, her reaction to the news being surprisingly calm.

"You're not?" asked Finn, surprised to hear this.

"If my hunch is correct, then she's probably right where you left her." said Marceline.

"What do you mean?" said Finn. "Last we checked, she wasn't in her room."

"Trust me, she's there." said Marceline, smiling. "I'll show you."

Finn, Jake, BMO, Lumpy Space Princess followed Marceline upstairs to Gumdrop's room, where her crib was still empty.

"I still don't see her." said Finn, not sure what Marceline was hoping for.

"Look up ding-dongs." said Marceline, pointing to the ceiling.

Finn, Jake, BMO, and Lumpy Space Princess all looked up at the ceiling, and to their surprise saw Gumdrop stuck to it.

"Gumdrop, what are you doing up there!" asked Finn, calling up to her.

Marceline then flew over to Gumdrop to peel her away from the ceiling, who despite her predicament she seemed to be in a rather happy and joyful mood.

"Told you she'd be here." said Marceline, coming back down to the floor with Gumdrop. "When you lose something, it's usually right there where you left it."

"I'm so glad you're okay Gumdrop!" said Finn, taking Gumdrop from Marceline and tearfully hugging her. "I promise I won't make you take your mom's place anymore. From now one, you can be whatever you want."

"Did you give them a hard time Gumdrop?" asked Marceline, chastising Gumdrop. "You've been a mischievous little gum lately. She did the same thing when I was watching her the other day. I left her in my room while I went take a shower, and when I came back she was nowhere to be found. I almost had a panic attack, but then I looked up and saw her stuck to the ceiling of my bedroom. It seems Gumdrop has discovered that she can stick to walls and ceilings. Check it out."

Marceline took hold of Gumdrop and stuck her to the wall, demonstrating how even after letting go of her she still remained firmly in place, much to the amazement of Finn, Jake, BMO, and Lumpy Space Princess.

"Woah, she really is like a piece of gum." said Finn.

"According to Bonnie, gum people are really sticky when they're young." said Marceline. "It helps them stay close to their Mother Gum so they don't get separated easily. The stickiness fades over time the older they get though."

"Well now we know where to look for her next time we think we've lost her." said Finn. "Wow, we really freaked out over nothing... Some parents we were."

"Actually, I think you do a pretty good job looking after her; way better than I could hope to do." said Marceline. "Unlike you, I've got virtually no parenting skills whatsoever, but you four seem to have it locked down. Growing up and surviving on my own after Simon left me, I never really got the chance to develop those types of skills."

"I wouldn't really call myself an expert." said Finn. "If anything, this experience has shown me just how much more I have to learn about being a parent."

"We can learn together." said Marceline. "It'll be tough, but I want to be a part of Gumdrop's life too."

"And if we ever need advice, I know just the person to ask for it." said Finn, smiling. "Who else but the woman who babysat me and Jake as kids..."

Feeling enlightened by the adventure that looking after Gumdrop had turned out to be, Finn put her back to bed and decided to call it a night, ready to go to sleep.

* * *

 **It feels good finally getting to release a new chapter for this story after having been on hiatus for so long. For those of you who do not know, about a year ago I decided to wait for the show to completely finish before continuing any further with this story, and after the finale aired I went back and made a lot of changes and edits to the previous chapters of this story so that they would better fit with ending of the show. During the time I spent waiting for the finale to air, I went ahead and wrote out some of the next few chapters ahead of time so that I would have them ready to release once I got back to working on this story. Originally, the chapter after Big Sister would have been about Finn, Fern, and Huntress Wizard going on an adventure together, but now I will need to make a few tweaks and changes to the plot of that chapter and rewrite some things due to the events of the finale. As part of these changes, I have decided to switch up the release order of the next few chapters and have this one come first instead, as I feel it will work as a really good setup for some of the plot elements I have planned for the new version of the chapter involving Finn and Huntress Wizard.**

 **Back to this chapter though, the light-hearted and slice of slice tone of it definitely made it feel like a classic Adventure Time episode, and the antics that Finn, Jake, BMO, and Lumpy Space Princess got into while taking care of Baby Gumdrop is something I could easily picture happening in the actual show itself. Just as the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child, and that was certainly true here with Baby Gumdrop. Finn and his friends are finally starting to get over Princess Bubblegum's death, and the fact that everyone is getting back to doing the sorts of things they used to do before shows they have begun to move on, especially with how Marceline is now back to writing songs and doing concerts again.**

 **It might have flown over a lot of your heads, but at the beginning of this chapter there was a small reference to something from the Adventure Time comics. The scene where Jake grows in size and carries Finn and Gumdrop around in a pouch on his stomach was supposed to mirror a scene from the Fionna and Cake comics where Cake does the same thing when she carries Fionna and Marshal Lee around in a baby sling on her stomach, telling both of them to get in the baby sling just as Jake told Finn and Gumdrop to get in the pouch. I thought that scene was really funny when I first read it, so I wanted to replicate it by having Finn and Jake, the male counterparts of Fionna and Cake, do something similar.**


	14. Episode 13: Out of the Woods

Spring had arrived in the grasslands, signaled by the blooming of flowers on the Fern tree outside the home of Finn and Jake. As Jake prepared breakfast in the kitchen, he hummed a song while Finn, Gumdrop, and Lumpy Space Princess patiently waited at the table for their meal.

"Hey Finn, what kind of pancakes do you want?" asked Jake, flipping a pancake over in the pan.

"Just regular is fine." said Finn, setting the table with forks and plates.

Once they were finished, Jake brought over a large stack of pancakes to the table, and as Finn was cutting one up into pieces for Gumdrop to eat, he heard a strange commotion start to come from somewhere outside that sounded like chanting. Wondering what it was, Finn got up and he went over to the window to take a look, where he saw that Huntress Wizard and three other magic users had gathered under the Fern tree outside.

"What's with all the noise?" asked Jake, joining Finn at the window.

"Looks like Huntress Wizard is doing something with Fern out there." said Finn.

"Wanna go check it out?" asked Jake, intrigued by the strange ritual.

Curious, Finn and Jake stepped outside and made their way towards the Fern tree where Huntress Wizard and her magical acquaintances were chanting.

"Hey Huntress Wizard." said Finn, greeting her. "What are you doing out here?"

"Hi Finn." said Huntress Wizard, the branches on her head also blooming with flowers. "We just finished fixing all the damage to the forest. We're doing a ritual to commemorate its restoration, and Fern is helping us out by sending good vibes."

"So that's where all those good vibes I've been feeling this morning are coming from." said Finn, now in a good mood. "Who are these other people with you? Is this the crowd you usually hang with out in the forest?"

"These are some of my fellow nature magic users." said Huntress Wizard, introducing Finn to her acquaintances, starting with a tree witch. "This here is Theresa the Tree Witch."

"Oh yes, I'm _"very"_ familiar with her." said Jake, recognizing the tree witch. "She once sat on me on for a whole day and wouldn't get off until Finn brought her some princess hair."

"There's also her sister too." said Huntress Wizard, introducing them to a second tree witch. "Harriet the Wood Hag."

"Hey, I remember you." said Finn, recognizing her as the tree witch he and Jake once met outside the City of Thieves. "You're that witch that tried to warn us about the City of Thieves."

"And last but not least, there's Forest Wizard." said Huntress Wizard, introducing an old wizard dressed in green robes. "He's my dad."

"It's you!" said Finn and Forest Wizard, both immediately recognizing each other and pointing to one another.

"Forest Wizard is your dad!" asked Finn, shocked to find this out. "Oh boy, this is awkward..."

"Is the guy you've been telling me about Diana?" said Forest Wizard, equally shocked to see Finn. "He's that dingus I almost sentenced to the Rite of Forest Justice for harassing all those forest creatures a couple years back."

"That was you Finn!" asked Huntress Wizard, turning to Finn. "What exactly did you do for him to sentence you to that? The Rite of Forest Justice is no joke."

"Yeah, sorry about that." said Finn, apologizing. "I was a huge butt back then."

"No hard feelings." said Forest Wizard, accepting his apology. "That's all in the past now."

"So... Diana?" asked Finn. "I didn't know that was your real name."

"I mean, what else would it be?" asked Huntress Wizard. "Huntress Wizard is just my title. Wizards tend to be secretive by nature, so they don't often reveal their true names to outsiders."

"As for me, you may call me Gwydion." said Forest Wizard, formally introducing himself to Finn.

"Nice to meet you Gwydion." said Finn, taking a moment to shake Forest Wizard's hand. "So is Huntress Wizard really your daughter? You two look nothing alike."

"Of course she's my daughter." said Forest Wizard. "I created her after all."

"Created her?" asked Finn, confused. "Oh yeah, she said something about sprouting from a seed in your garden a long time ago. Is that true?"

"It is." said Forest Wizard. "A part of me also went into her creation, so in a sense I truly am her father.

"Is that something wizards can just do?" asked Finn. "Make living creatures with their magic?"

"Sure it is." said Forest Wizard. "We do it all the time, though some are better at it than others. Take Grassy Wizard for example. He's the one who made that obnoxious grass ogre Donny."

"Ugh, Donny..." said Huntress Wizard, expressing contempt at the mention of his name. "He used to bully me all the time when I was a kid."

"He made Donny?" asked Finn, remembering his encounter with Grassy Wizard, whose appearance greatly reminded him of his father Martin Mertens. "No wonder. I really hate that guy. It's because of him and that cursed grass sword he made that Fern ended up like this."

"Grassy Wizard is a dillweed." said Forest Wizard. "He and I used to go to the same magic school back when we were younger. We were bitter rivals, always trying to outdo each other in everything, whether it was making magical swords or magical creatures. I'll tell you one thing, his Donny doesn't come close to matching my Diana. She's truly one of a kind."

"Wow Huntress Wizard, so you're a literal freak of nature." said Finn.

"Thank you." said Huntress Wizard, blushing and taking the remark as a compliment.

"Since we're done here, I'll be taking my leave." said Theresa the Tree Witch, interrupting. "My sister and I have got some bewitching to do."

After Theresa and Harriet had left, Finn, Jake, Huntress Wizard, and Forest Wizard found a log to sit down on and continued to chat about events from their lives.

"I remember that..." said Huntress Wizard, recalling the incident with Belle Noche in Wizard City. "Everyone in Wizard City lost their magic, but then some crazy redhead showed up and defeated Bella Noche."

"That sure was one wild weekend." said Forest Wizard. "The only thing Bufo, Laser Wizard, and I got out of that was a lifetime ban from Wizard City for helping Bella Noche enter our dimension. That's the last time I listen to any Scholars of Golb again. Those guys are all bad news."

"You said it." said Finn, agreeing with Forest Wizard. "Just one of Golb's crazy fan boys is enough to deal with, let alone two."

"You're lucky a lifetime ban is all you got dad." said Huntress Wizard. "You could have been killed, or worse. Please don't do something stupid like that again."

"Don't worry Diana, I've learned my lesson from that whole experience." said Forest Wizard. "From now on, I'm just sticking to plain old nature magic."

"I think you're a pretty rad dude Forest Wizard." said Finn, putting his arm around Forest Wizard in a show of camaraderie. "Your crazy shenanigans remind me of Ice King."

"He'd be great as part of your family, wouldn't you say Finn?" asked Jake, smiling and nudging Finn with his elbow. "At least he's not a big scary demon lord or an evil fire king, am I right?"

"Oh come on Jake..." said Finn, blushing at Jake's joke poking fun at his past encounters with the fathers of his female friends.

"What's that Fern?" asked Huntress Wizard, talking with the Fern tree for a moment. "Hey guys, Fern says you left the stove on."

"We did?" asked Finn, looking over to the house to see that there was now smoke coming out from the kitchen. "Oh Glob, we did!"

Finn and Jake immediately got up and rushed back to their house to put out a small fire that was now burning on the stove, using a towel to wave all the smoke away.

* * *

 _22 years ago._

Nearly two decades ago, the wizard Gwydion, more commonly known as Forest Wizard, was locked in a bitter rivalry with his arch-nemesis Grassy Wizard. In order to prove whose magic was batter, the two would constantly try to one up each other in every way imaginable, often going to extreme and petty lengths to do so. As part of their latest contest, Grassy Wizard had used his magic to create a number of living creatures from grass that now populated his domain, the most recent of which was a grass ogre by the name of Donny. Having just been bested by Grassy Wizard yet again, Forest Wizard now arrived back at his home in the woods fuming.

"Stupid Grassy Wizard..." said Forest Wizard, grumbling as he walked into his living room and started imitating Grassy Wizard as he held a sword. "Oh look at me, I made a grass sword. It's way better than your Root Sword. Look, I made a grass ogre too."

Forest Wizard then tossed aside his latest creation, the Root Sword, and went over to open up his store of magical supplies. Not one to be outdone, Forest Wizard decided that he would now try creating a magical being of his own.

"Two came play at that game." said Forest Wizard, rummaging for some items. "I'll make something even better than that annoying Donny."

Forest Wizard then pulled out a handful items which he believed would be useful and brought them outside to his garden. Not entirely sure what he was doing or how to go about it, he dug a hole and simply dropped the items into it, listing each of them off as he did.

"Let's see, the apple of a Fruit Witch." said Forest Wizard, dropping it into the hole. "Some bark from the Ancient Sleeper Darren, a forest nymph's laurel, and... what else?"

Forest Wizard thought for a moment about what else he could possibly add to make it more unique, and then thought of himself.

"I know..." said Forest Wizard, pulling out a knife. "I'll add my own personal touch to it."

Using the knife to cut his palm, Forest Wizard allowed some of his blood to drip onto the items in the hole, after which he buried them in the dirt.

"Powers of nature I call upon thee." said Forest Wizard, conjuring up a spell and casting it on the garden. "Bring to life a creature of flesh and tree."

After finishing the enchantment, Forest Wizard waited for a moment to see if anything would happened, but nothing did.

"Maybe it needs some time to kick in?" said Forest Wizard. "Oh well, might as well go do something else in the meantime."

With his short attention span, Forest Wizard went back inside to find something else to occupy his time, leaving the spell he had cast on the garden to work its magic.

* * *

After Forest Wizard had left, Huntress Wizard decided to stay and joined Finn and Jake in their home once they had finished putting out the fire, and as Finn showed her around the house, Huntress Wizard took notice of his old Root Sword hanging from the wall.

"Hey, I know that sword." said Huntress Wizard, recognizing the Root Sword. "My dad made it. It used to be mine when I was a kid, but I never really used it. Swords weren't really my thing."

"That must be why he sold it to me." said Jake. "I bought it from him a few years back and gave it to Finn as a birthday present."

"Speaking of birthday presents..." said Finn, picking up his bow and arrow. "I still have the one you gave me Huntress Wizard. Think you can teach me how to use it?"

"Sure, I'm not busy with anything else today." said Huntress Wizard. "Let's go find some place to practice."

"It's about time you two finally got to spend some quality time together." said Jake, grabbing Finn and Huntress Wizard and pushing them closer together. "When you're done with that, why don't you take her out on a date Finn?"

"We're just practicing our archery Jake." said Finn, blushing. "It's not like we're going on a romantic camping trip."

"Sure, why not." said Huntress Wizard, finding the idea acceptable. "I can show you some of my favorite spots, and you can show me yours."

"Leave the rest to me." said Jake, grabbing some supplies and putting them into Finn's backpack. "Here, take your Root Sword too. It'll be nostalgic, and uh oh what's this... Is it your special flute that Huntress Wizard likes hearing you play so much?"

Jake playfully took Finn's flute and dropped it into his backpack, and after handing him the Root Sword strapping the bow and arrow to his back, Finn was all set.

"Bye Gumdrop." said Finn, giving Gumdrop a kiss on the forehead as he passed by her on his way out through the living room. "I'm going on a little trip with Huntress Wizard. Be good while I'm gone."

As Finn walked away, Gumdrop had a sad look on her face and began to whimper, now attempting to reach out towards Finn with her tiny little arms.

"What's wrong with her?" asked Huntress Wizard, noticing the sudden change in Gumdrop's mood. "She doesn't look too happy."

"Poor Gumdrop." said Jake, laughing. "She thinks you're trying to take her daddy away."

"She's been really attached to me lately." said Finn, sighing. "If either me or Marceline aren't anywhere nearby, she gets like this."

"Why not take her with us then?" asked Huntress Wizard, now starting to feel bad for Gumdrop. "I won't mind. She just really loves her dad, just like I do."

"I don't see the harm in it." said Jake. "If anything, it'll help her get used to the idea of you being in Finn's life."

"Alright, come on you little whiner." said Finn, picking up Gumdrop and putting her in his backpack, her mood quickly changing back to a happy one. "You may not be a princess, but you sure act like one with how much you love getting attention."

After packing some baby supplies for Gumdrop, Finn was now ready to go and left the house with Huntress Wizard, Jake seeing them off with a smile as they did.

* * *

 _21 years ago._

Roughly a year had gone by since Forest Wizard's attempt at creating life, but the end result turned out to be a disappointment. Rather than bringing to life an actual living creature like he had hoped, the spell had merely caused an odd assortment of bizarre hybrid plants to spring up in his garden. Seeing that none of them had come to life in the way he was expecting, Forest Wizard deemed his experiment a failure and eventually forgot all about it. That was until one day he found himself clearing out the weeds and heard a rustling noise come from somewhere inside the garden.

"Who's there?" asked Forest Wizard, turning around to see that the leaves of a nearby plant were moving. "You rabbits better not be in here stealing again!"

Figuring that some small animal must be prowling around in his garden, Forest Wizard walked over to where he assumed they were hiding behind and pulled back the leaves. To his surprise though, what he found lying among a patch of oddly-shaped gourds and melons was something that resembled a small green baby.

"What's this?" asked Forest Wizard, squatting down to get a closer look. "A baby? How did this get here?"

Out of curiosity, Forest Wizard reached out to touch the plant baby, its green skin having a similar texture to flesh. A stem with two small leaves stuck out from the top of its head, and attached to its stomach was a flowery vine which acted as an umbilical cord that connected it to the rest of the plants around it.

"Can it be..." asked Forest Wizard, remembering his experiment from nearly a year ago. "It worked! It actually worked!"

Overjoyed by the fact that something of note had actually occurred as result of his magical experiment, Forest Wizard then used his garden shears to cut the baby free from the vine that served as its umbilical cord and took it inside his house.

"How did I miss this?" asked Forest Wizard, holding the plant baby. "I see, you must have been gestating this whole time before you finally emerged."

Forest Wizard set the baby down on his kitchen table, and as he examined it the true gravity of what he had done finally sunk in.

"I... made this." said Forest Wizard, taking a moment to appreciate his creation. "I created this plant... person... girl thing... Or is it boy thing? Most plants are actually both, so does that mean you're both as well?"

Forest Wizard lifted the plant baby up and examined it more closely, but found no obvious distinguishing features of either sex on it.

"You were a late bloomer after all, so perhaps that will show itself in time too." said Forest Wizard, putting the plant baby back down. "How about I give you a name then? I suppose it doesn't matter what I call you. Grassy Wizard has that Donny, so how about I call you... Diana? Yes, that sounds good."

The plant baby smiled and laughed, signifying that it liked the name Forest Wizard had chosen for it, thus marking the beginning of its life as his surrogate daughter.

* * *

Having set out to practice his archery, Finn now found himself in an open area of the forest with Huntress Wizard, where she began demonstrating to him the proper way of firing a bow and arrow.

"See, you do it like this." said Huntress Wizard, using her magic to pull an arrow out from her quiver and position it onto her bow. "Then you shoot it."

Huntress Wizard pulled back the string of her bow and released it, causing the arrow to fly out and hit a target she had drawn on a dead tree nearby. Finn attempted to do the same, using his left arm to pull an arrow out from his quiver while also holding the bow at the same time, which he found immensely difficult to do with only one arm. Getting creative, Finn then used his teeth to pull back the string of his bow and fire it, but to his disappointment the arrow only flew a few feet before falling to the ground.

"This is way harder than I thought." said Finn. "Maybe I should have taken my mom up on that offer to have Dr. Gross give me a new arm."

"Here, let me help." said Huntress Wizard, using her magic to pull a new arrow out from his quiver. "This should make things a little easier for you."

Huntress Wizard levitated the arrow into position, allowing Finn to grab it with his teeth and release it from the bowstring. This time the arrow flew a little further than before, and with repeated attempts his aim steadily improved. Observing the process from within Finn's backpack, Gumdrop decided she wanted to be helpful too and grabbed an arrow from his quiver, handing it to Finn from over his shoulder.

"Aww, thanks Gumdrop." said Finn, finding the gesture adorable. "Does my little warrior want to help her daddy out?"

"I helped too..." said Huntress Wizard, feeling a slight bit of jealousy at the attention Gumdrop was receiving from Finn.

Delighted that Finn was praising her, Gumdrop continued to hand him arrows, at one point getting a bit too overenthusiastic and giving him far more than he could hold at once. Now on his last arrow, Finn fired it and actually managed to hit the target this time, but it was far from a perfect shot.

"Maybe archery isn't really my thing." said Finn, turning to Huntress Wizard. "I've always been more of a sword guy. Thanks for teaching me anyway. I appreciate you taking the time to do this."

"No problem." asked Huntress Wizard. "So what else do you want now? We've still got the whole day to ourselves."

"I'll let you decide." said Finn. "Where do you want to go?"

"Since you met my dad, how about you introduce me to yours?" asked Huntress Wizard.

"That's going to be a little tricky." said Finn. "Last time I saw my dad, he went off to some other plain of existence... I think."

"Okay, so what about your mom?" asked Huntress Wizard. "She's still around, right?"

"Yeah, I could take you to see her, but... I still haven't told her about _"this"_ yet." said Finn, pointing to Gumdrop. "I'm kind of scared how she'll react."

"What do you mean?" asked Huntress Wizard, not quite following. "Is there a problem?"

"Imagine how that would look to her." said Finn. "Me, her teenage son, bringing home a baby, and it just so happens to resemble one of his close female friends that he hung out with a lot. You can already figure what sort of conclusions she'll probably jump to."

"I see, that would be rather awkward to explain." said Huntress Wizard, agreeing. "Perhaps another time?"

"Someday, but not today." said Finn. "In the meantime, I could take you to see my big sister."

"You have a sister?" asked Huntress Wizard, surprised to hear this. "You never mentioned this before."

"Well, we're not exactly siblings, but close enough." said Finn. "Her house isn't too far from here, so why don't we go pay her a visit."

After retrieving all of his arrows, Finn began leading Huntress Wizard in the direction of the Forest of Trees where Susan and Frieda lived, eager to introduce them.

* * *

 _18 years ago._

Three years had passed since Forest Wizard's discovery of the plant baby in his garden, and since then it had grown to the size of a toddler. One day, Forest Wizard decided to bring the young Diana grocery shopping with him, who sat in the shopping cart the whole time and pretended she was driving a car. As they came to the check-out line, they stopped behind a pair of talking yellow dogs, who were none other than Joshua and Margaret.

"Aww, what a cute little thing." said Margaret, amused by Diana's imagination. "Is she yours?"

"She is indeed." said Forest Wizard, feeling a sense of pride as he said this. "I made her myself."

As they waited in line, Forest Wizard and the two dogs began to chat, and eventually Joshua pointed to a flier stapled to a noticeboard, which warned of a gorilla on the loose in the woods.

"I wonder, did they ever catch that gorilla?" asked Joshua, examining the flier. "We got several calls about that monkey, but we never found it ourselves. I bet it was just some hoax."

"The gorilla is real." said Forest Wizard. "I saw it with my own two eyes. You were there too, weren't you Diana?"

Diana ignored the question, off in her own little world as the adults continued on with their conversation. Noticing that Joshua and Margaret's shopping cart in front of them appeared to have three babies seated in it, Diana became curious and stood up to get a closer look. Two of the babies were dogs, but the third was a type of creature she had never seen before who wore a white bear hat on its head.

"Beep beep." said Diana, leaning over to say hello to the babies. "I'm a taxi driver."

The two baby dogs were both asleep, but the one with the bear hat was wide awake, becoming startled at the sight of Diana. Seeing a girl with green skin and leaves for hair suddenly appear out of nowhere would be a confusing and terrifying experience for any baby, but as he looked into her deep green eyes he began to feel a sense of calm. The baby stared at Diana for a good while, mesmerized by her until they eventually reached the end of the check-out line and had to part ways.

"Come on Diana." said Forest Wizard, carrying the groceries he had just bought. "It's time to go home."

"Bye-bye." said Diana, waving goodbye to the babies as Joshua and Margaret left the store with them. "Daddy that was a funny looking baby."

Little did Diana know, she and that baby would meet again someday, unaware that the two had actually met and crossed paths once before when they were younger.

* * *

Now on their way to visit Susan and Frieda in the Forest of Trees, Finn and Huntress Wizard found themselves hiking down a steep and heavily wooded mountain path. As they traveled downwind, pollen from the flowers on Huntress Wizard's branches were blown directly into the Finn's face, causing his nose to leak and his eyes to water.

"Okay, I didn't want to say anything before because I thought it might be rude, but what's up with the flowers?" asked Finn, now longer able to ignore it. "All that pollen is making my allergies go crazy."

"Sorry, it's a seasonal thing." said Huntress Wizard. "It can't be helped."

"It's even attracting bees." said Finn, pointing out a small swarm bees that was now following them. "That must be pretty annoying."

"It actually kind of tickles having them climb inside my flowers." said Huntress Wizard. "That big one over there is kind of creeping me out though. She's been stalking us for the past hour."

Huntress Wizard pointed to a large humanoid queen bee that was lurking in the bushes nearby, drooling from the mouth at the sight of her flowers.

"Oh that's just Breezy." said Finn, recognizing his bee friend. "She just wants some of your nectar."

"Well she can't have any." said Huntress Wizard. "This nectar is only for the little ones. Go on, shoo..."

Huntress Wizard motioned for Breezy to go away, who let off an angry buzz as she slowly backed away and disappeared into the forest.

"I can't even imagine having to deal with something like this every spring." said Finn, blowing his nose with a tissue and then handing it to Gumdrop to blow her nose as well. "It would drive me insane."

"You get used to it." said Huntress Wizard. "At least it's better than what happens to other girls every month. Being part plant, I'm glad I don't have to worry about any of that."

Reaching the end of the forest pathway, Finn and Huntress Wizard finally came to the home of Susan and Frieda, where Frieda was outside tending to a small vegetable garden.

"Hey Finn." said Frieda, greeting them. "Are you looking for Susan?"

"Yeah." said Finn. "Is she home right now?"

"She's inside." said Frieda. "Wait right here. I'll go get her."

As they waited outside for Frieda to come back, Huntress Wizard gradually became more and more nervous at the thought of meeting Finn's older sister. A few minutes later Frieda showed up with Susan, and upon seeing her Huntress Wizard's nervousness quickly turned into fear as she instantly recognized her as the angry gorilla she and her father had encountered in the forest all those years ago. Not sure how to react, Huntress Wizard instinctively transformed herself into a log to hide from Susan.

"Hey Susan." said Finn. "Huntress Wizard and I were in the neighborhood, so we decided to drop by for a visit."

"Is she that _"special friend"_ you keep mentioning?" asked Susan. "Where is she?"

"Yeah, that's her..." said Finn, blushing. "She's right here. Wait, where did she go? Huntress Wizard?"

Finn scanned the area for signs of Huntress Wizard, perplexed by her sudden disappearance, until he spotted a log on the ground that was not there before.

"Finn, what are you doing?" asked the log, its voice being that of Huntress Wizard as two eyes appeared on it. "You need to hide. It's the gorilla!"

"Gorilla?" asked Finn, confused. "What gorilla?"

"Hey Finn, how come you're talking to that log?" asked Susan, not sure what was going on. "Did your friend ditch you?"

"No, she's just shy." said Finn, reaching into his backpack and pulling out Gumdrop. "By the way, I brought another guest along too."

"You brought Gumdrop!" said Frieda, overjoyed to see the gum baby. "Can I hold her? Please?"

Susan and Frieda bunched up around Finn, both of them wishing to hold Gumdrop and play with her. Seeing how gentle Susan was with Gumdrop, Huntress Wizard began to feel much less afraid of her and let down her guard, transforming back into her humanoid form.

"So you decided to show up after all." said Susan, getting her first look at Huntress Wizard. "It's good to finally meet you in person Huntress Wizard."

With Huntress Wizard now out of her shell, she formally introduced herself to Susan and Frieda, and the two spent the next few minutes getting to know her.

"Hey Susan, what do you say we take Huntress Wizard dungeon crawling with us?" asked Finn, a new idea coming to him. "This time we'll have a mage in our party."

"That's a great idea!" said Susan. "Since she's a ranged fighter too, she can back Frieda up."

"Dungeon crawling?" asked Huntress Wizard, intrigued by the idea. "Is it fun?"

"Trust me, you'll love it." said Finn. "It'll be our first dungeon crawl together, and Gumdrop's too."

"I see you're trying to get Gumdrop started early?" said Susan, smiling. "Give it a couple few years and she'll probably be fighting monsters right alongside her dad. Lucky for you guys, we're taking the ship this time."

Susan then pulled out her remote and used it to summon her ship, and after getting suited up the four of them climbed aboard and took off for the group dungeon.

* * *

 _14 years ago._

Once when she was seven years old, Diana had given her father quite the scare after seemingly disappearing within their own home, causing him to fly into a panic.

"Where did you go Sapling?" said Forest Wizard, calling out for Diana as he searched their home.

At the center of their home grew a large tree, around which the rest of it had been built, and hearing her father call out her nickname, Diana emerged from its trunk to reveal herself.

"Here I am." said Diana, materializing from the wood of the tree and catching her father by surprise.

"Diana, you scared me!" said Forest Wizard, jumping back.

"I'm sorry." said Diana, playfully apologizing.

"How did you even do that?" asked Forest Wizard, now curious.

"You mean this?" asked Diana, proceeding to morph back into the tree as though it were natural.

"Yes, that!" said Forest Wizard, amazed by the transformation.

"I don't know, I just knew I could somehow." said Diana, reemerging from the tree.

"Diana, do you know what this is?" asked Forest Wizard, his eyes lighting up with joy.

"No, what?" asked Diana, not sure what was so special about it.

"It's magic!" said Forest Wizard, barely able to contain his excitement. "You just used magic."

"Like what you can do daddy?" asked Diana.

"Yes, though your ability seems to be a natural gift." said Forest Wizard.

"Is there other stuff I can do with my magic?" asked Diana.

"Of course there are, and I can teach them to you." said Forest Wizard.

"Teach me, teach me!" said Diana, now eager to learn more about her newfound abilities.

On that day Diana first discovered her ability to use magic, much to the joy of her father and creator Forest Wizard, who began teaching her how to properly wield it.

* * *

After returning from their dungeon crawl with Susan and Frieda later in the afternoon, Finn and Huntress Wizard continued on with the rest of their day, musing about their experience in the group dungeon as they made their way back through the forest.

"You were amazing in there Huntress Wizard." said Finn. "I didn't know you could do all that with your magic."

"I know many different types of magic." said Huntress Wizard. "Some I picked up on my own, and others I learned from my father. Since my magic is a natural ability that I was born with, I can use it more freely."

"I'm not gonna lie, the way you handled those monsters was kind of scary." said Finn. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."

With all the loot they had gathered from the dungeon, Finn's backpack was now too full to carry Gumdrop in it, so to help relieve some of the burden Huntress Wizard had offered to carry Gumdrop for him, but the gum baby was proving to be quite troublesome for her.

"Can we switch now?" asked Huntress Wizard, gesturing for Finn to take Gumdrop, who now clung to her back like a baby sloth "Your little warrior won't stop chewing on my leaves. Ow! Hey, don't pull on those!"

As Huntress Wizard tried to pull Gumdrop away from her leaves, the gum baby proceeded to grab hold of her branches and hang from them, causing her a great deal of pain and discomfort. Recalling how she had agreed to let Finn bring Gumdrop with them, Huntress Wizard was now slowly beginning to regret that decision.

"Maybe she's just hungry." said Finn, removing Gumdrop from Huntress Wizard's branches and giving her his backpack. "I think she wants some of those tasty-looking berries you have on you."

Finn pointed to the flowers on Huntress Wizard's branches, many of which had now turned into fully ripened blue berries after being pollinated by the bees earlier.

"Here, take it." said Huntress Wizard, pulling off a cluster of blueberries and giving them to Gumdrop. "You want some too Finn? They're really nutritious. I eat them all the time."

"Wait, isn't that kind of gross?" asked Finn, cringing as he watched Gumdrop eat the berries, her mouth being stained blue by them. "You're basically eating yourself."

"Not really." said Huntress Wizard. "Besides, Fern told me you used to eat your boogers when you were a kid. How is this any different?"

"But that's... okay, fine." said Finn, his stomach growling from hunger as he took a cluster of blueberries from Huntress Wizard and ate them. "Hey, these are actually pretty good. You're delicious Huntress Wizard."

"I'm glad you like them." said Huntress Wizard, blushing. "I doubt these berries will be enough to satiate our hunger. Come on, let's go find something more filling."

Pulling out an arrow from her quiver, Huntress Wizard took Finn deeper into the forest in search of something that could serve as their next meal, ready for the hunt.

* * *

 _11 years ago._

In the years following Diana's discovery of her ability to use magic, her father had taught her a great deal about how to harness and control its power. Due to how far they lived from civilization and how often she spent training with him, Diana did not get many opportunities to interact with other people her age, and as a result her social skills had suffered. Growing up, Diana's only friends were the creatures of the forest, who would keep her company whenever she ventured outside. There was one resident of the forest who Diana did not get along with though, and as she sat mediating in a grove surrounded by all her animal companions, a pine cone flew through the air and hit her in the back of the head.

"What'cha doing dork?" said a young grass ogre, approaching her from behind.

"Go away Donny." said Diana, sighing with annoyance, this being a regular occurrence. "I'm mediating."

"Woah, what's up with those weird things on your head?" said Donny, drawing attention to a pair of woody protrusions that had begun to sprout from her head. "Are you some kind of demon?"

"I don't know." said Diana, covering her tiny branches in embarrassment. "I was just born this way."

"You sure look like a demon." said Donny, laughing at her.

"No I don't." said Diana, feeling somewhat ashamed of her branches now.

"You did crawl out of a hole in the ground, didn't you?" asked Donny, throwing another pine cone at her. "You must be one."

"Leave me alone." said Diana, now beginning to cry.

Demon, demon, demon!" said Donny, continuing throw pine cones at Diana as he taunted her.

"I said leave me alone!" said Diana, screaming at him.

As if in response to her anger, several roots sprang out from the ground and attacked Donny, the commotion scaring away Diana's animal companions.

"I was just messing around!" said Donny, dropping the pine cones and running away in fear. "You really are a demon!"

As Diana stared in disbelief at what she had just done with her magic, a short, green, plant-like creature appeared next to her.

"Hey there." said the creature, greeting her.

"Hello." said Diana, startled by the sudden appearance of the creature. "Who are you?"

"I'm the Spirit of the Forest." said the creature.

"Spirit of the Forest?" asked Diana. "Where did you come from?"

"You called me here." said the Forest Spirit.

"I did?" asked Diana, confused. "But I've never seen you before in my life."

"You were born from the earth, were you not?" asked the Forest Spirit. "I'm connected to all the creatures of the forest, including you. I can feel that you're lost and confused, unsure of what you are."

"You understand me?" asked Diana, surprised by his deduction. "Can you help me then?"

"That depends entirely on you." said the Forest Spirit. "Your pain stems from the madness and sadness of magic. If you let me, I can show you a different path, one that allows you to remain in-tune with nature and yourself."

Interested, Diana sat down with the Spirit of the Forest to listen to his offer of training her in the ways of a druid, thus opening her eyes to several new possibilities.

* * *

Hoping to catch something to eat, Huntress Wizard had now set up a snare trap beneath a tree, patiently in the bushes nearby with Finn for some small animal to walk into it. Nearly an hour went by before a rabbit finally showed up and began making its way over to the snare, the bait attracting it.

"Come on, just a little closer..." said Huntress Wizard, eagerly waiting for the rabbit to enter the trap.

As the rabbit got closer, Finn noticed that Gumdrop was no longer with him, and after a quick look around saw that she had somehow crawled all the way up to the trap and was now paying with it.

"No, don't play with that Gumdrop!" said Finn, immediately jumping out from the bushes and rushing over to her.

In his efforts to stop Gumdrop, Finn accidentally stepped into the snare himself, setting it off. This blunder served to frighten the rabbit away, prompting Huntress Wizard to fire an arrow at it and attempt to kill it, but the rabbit proved too nimble and escaped, much to her frustration.

"What did you have to go and do that for!" said Huntress Wizard, angrily turning to Finn. "We almost had it!"

"Sorry about that." said Finn, embarrassed as he now dangled upside-down from a tree by his leg. "I couldn't let Gumdrop get caught in our trap... but it looks like I'm the one that got caught instead."

"Seriously, what is it with you and that pink baby!" said Huntress Wizard, her madness beginning to surface. "If she's that attached to both of you, you could have just left her with Marceline for today instead of dragging her along with us. The only reason I agreed to it initially was because I felt bad for the little thing, but this whole day she's been nothing but trouble for me."

"But... I thought you liked Gumdrop." said Finn. "Was it really bugging you that much that I wanted to bring her along?"

"Yes!" said Huntress Wizard, her sadness now taking over. "I thought today was supposed to be just the two of us spending time together. Isn't that what you wanted too? Now it seems like all you want to do is play house with that baby. So which is it then?"

"I didn't mean for it to turn out like this..." said Finn, unnerved by this strange new side of Huntress Wizard he had never seen before.

Seeing the fear in Finn's eyes, Huntress Wizard took a step back and finally snapped out of her momentary state of madness and sadness. She then looked around, and to her horror found that her emotional outburst had caused several roots to spring out from ground and entangle themselves in the surrounding forest.

"Just forget it." said Huntress Wizard, turning away from Finn in shame. "Come on, it'll be dark soon. I know a place where we can stay for the night."

Finn grabbed the Root Sword from his backpack and used it to cut himself free from the snare, falling to the ground and then getting up to follow Huntress Wizard.

* * *

 _9 years ago._

After her meeting with the Spirit of the Forest, Diana went on to spend the next two years under his tutelage, learning the ways of a druid from him and obtaining new powers and abilities on top of those she had already learned from her father. In order to further his pursuit of magical knowledge, Forest Wizard had decided that it would be best for him to move to Wizard City, leaving Diana with a choice. She could either move to Wizard City with him and complete her training as a wizard, or remain in the forest with the Forest Spirit and complete her training as a druid.

"Why don't you give it a few days and see how it goes." said Forest Wizard, saying goodbye to Diana as he prepared to leave for Wizard City. "Since this is your natural environment, your powers will be at their strongest here. Solitude and self-reflection are sometimes necessary for a wizard to mature. Just know that whichever path you choose, I'll support you."

"I know dad." said Diana, hugging him. "If I do end up choosing to stay here, I'll be sure to come visit you in Wizard City."

After the two said their goodbyes and parted ways, Forest Wizard began heading towards Wizard City with all of his belongings, leaving Diana in the care of the Forest Spirit.

"Are you ready to continue your training?" asked the Forest Spirit, appearing next to Diana.

"I am." said Diana, feeling confident in herself as she followed him into the forest.

Resuming her druid training, Diana spent the next several hours mediating and reflecting on herself and nature. It was during this reflection that it finally hit her, this was the first time she had ever been apart from her father for such a long period of time, leaving her with an empty feeling that she could not explain.

"You seem uneasy." asked the Forest Spirit, sensing Diana's troubled mental state. "Is something wrong?"

"I can't stop thinking about my father." said Diana, trying to make sense of this new feeling. "He's always been there for me, and now he won't be anymore."

"Do you miss him?" asked the Forest Spirit.

"I think I do..." said Diana, finally realizing it herself.

"It seems you're suffering from separation anxiety." said the Forest Spirit. "Maybe you should take care of that first before we continue your training."

"What should I do?" asked Diana, now filled with uncertainty. "Do I stay, or go back?"

"Perhaps you were a bit too hasty in deciding to start this training so young." said the Forest Spirit. "We could always start it again another time, when your mind is better prepared."

"I want to go back to my dad." said Diana, now making up her mind. "Can I? Is it already too late?"

"If it makes you happy." said the Forest Spirit. "I'll still be here whenever you decide to come back. Just know that if you continue down the path of magic, it'll become that much harder to turn back."

Diana was gone before he had even finished speaking, having run off in search of her father. Diana had no idea where she was going or why, but somehow she just knew that if she kept running she would eventually find him. She simply chalked it up to intuition, but in truth it was actually something much deeper. Because Forest Wizard had used a part of himself to create her, a magical bond had unknowingly been formed between him and Diana, one that allowed them to feel the presence of one another when nearby, and as such could be used as a means of locating each other. As Diana continued running she could feel Forest Wizard's presence growing stronger and stronger, until she finally came to the mountain path leading into Wizard City and saw him about to enter.

"Wait, I changed my mind!" said Diana, running towards with tears in her eyes. "Take me with you!"

"Diana?" asked Forest Wizard, surprised by her sudden appearance. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"I can't do it!" said Diana, hugging him as tears streamed down her face and mucus dripped from her nose. "I thought I could, but I couldn't. I still want to stay with you dad."

"It's okay." said Forest Wizard, using his robe to wipe away her tears. "If you want, you can come live with me here in Wizard City. I won't mind having you around a little longer, at least until you're ready to leave the nest on your own."

Once she had calmed down, Diana and Forest Wizard entered Wizard City together, ready to start their new life. Whether Diana had left the forest because she truly missed her father or because the pull of magic was too strong to resist, she did not know, but as long as she could continue to spend time with him she was happy.

* * *

Night was fast approaching as Finn followed Huntress Wizard to their destination, doing his best to keep quiet to avoid angering her any further, until he could no longer bear it.

"Are you mad at me?" asked Finn, finally breaking the silence.

"I'm not mad." said Huntress Wizard, her voice lacking emotion.

"I'm sorry I let our dinner get away." said Finn, apologizing again for his earlier blunder.

"It's fine." said Huntress Wizard, seemingly already over it as they reached the top of a hill. "Alright, we're here."

Looking down from hill into the forest below, Finn could see an old house built around the center of a large tree, its outward appearance somewhat resembling Huntress Wizard's own home. It was evident by all the moss and decay covering it that nobody had lived there in quite some time.

"What is his place?" asked Finn, not sure what to make of it. "An old house?"

"This is where my dad and I used to live before moving to Wizard City." said Huntress Wizard. "I was born and raised here."

"So this is your childhood home?" said Finn, approaching the house with Huntress Wizard. "It's too bad mine isn't around anymore."

"I know it's a little run down, but try and make yourself comfortable." said Huntress Wizard, showing Finn around the house. "This is where the living room used to be, over there is what's left of the kitchen, and behind that wall is the bathroom. As for dinner, I think I still have some berries left we can eat."

Huntress Wizard handed Finn another cluster of blueberries from her branches, and together they ate the last of them. Once they were finished, Finn turned his attention to Gumdrop, wiping her face off and then pulling out a toothbrush he had packed to brush her teeth.

"Gotta keep those teeth clean Gumdrop." said Finn, smiling and singing as he brushed her teeth. "We wouldn't want you getting cavities. Now brush, brush, brush..."

Watching this from afar, Huntress Wizard could not help but feel something was off about Finn. The dotting parent she saw before her now was nothing like the Finn he had originally met in the river that one day. Seeing him like this only made her feel sad, because to her it was as though she was witnessing something exceptional slowly become something mundane.

"What happened to you..." asked Huntress Wizard, quietly muttering to herself.

"What was that?" asked Finn, having barely heard her.

"It's nothing." said Huntress Wizard, brushing it aside.

"I have to use the bathroom real quick." said Finn. "You sit tight Gumdrop."

Before leaving, Finn took Gumdrop and stuck her to the trunk of the large tree growing through the house so she would not be able to wander off while he was gone, leaving her and Huntress Wizard alone together in the room.

"You did this to him." said Huntress Wizard, whispering to Gumdrop. "You made him turn soft."

Gumdrop gave Huntress Wizard a puzzled look, clearly not understanding what she meant by this and simply tilting her head. After glaring at her for a good while, Huntress Wizard finally gave in to her cuteness and reached over to pat Gumdrop on the head.

"I'm back." said Finn, returning from the bathroom. "So where are we going to sleep?"

"Anywhere you want." said Huntress Wizard. "Before you do, there's something I want to show you."

Huntress Wizard took Finn by the hand and led him outside to another of the house, where there were the remains of a garden.

"Was this a garden?" asked Finn, looking around to find only dead plants.

"Not just any garden." said Huntress Wizard, walking over to a patch of dead vines and laying down in a fetal position. "This is where I sprouted from. Right here in this spot. Look, I even came with a cord."

Huntress Wizard picked up a piece of dead vine from the ground and put it up to her stomach, showing Finn that it had once been a part of her.

"So how exactly did your dad create you?" asked Finn, now curious. "Did he just plant some magic seed here in the ground?"

"Something like that." said Huntress Wizard. "He buried some magic stuff in the ground and used a spell to enchant the soil, and then about a year later I was born."

"Does that mean these other plants here are basically your siblings?" asked Finn, pointing out all the dead plants in the garden. "How come you're the only one that came to life?"

"The magic didn't spread out evenly." said Huntress Wizard. "Most of it ended going to me, which is why I came to life while the others just stayed regular plants. I guess I was the lucky one, and now I'm the only one left. Even though they're all gone, I still like to come here sometimes and lay down with them. It makes me feel more connected with my roots."

"Why don't we sleep out here then?" said Finn, seeing how comfortable Huntress Wizard was laying there on the ground. "It's warm, and there's a nice breeze."

Finn went back inside to fetch Gumdrop and his backpack, pulling out his sleeping bag and setting it down next to Huntress Wizard. Gumdrop was the first to fall asleep, using Finn's backpack as a makeshift sleeping bag, while Finn and Huntress Wizard remained awake. As Huntress Wizard turned over on her side and met Finn's eyes, there was an awkward pause between them, as though something about it felt oddly familiar to her.

"I'm sorry about earlier." said Huntress Wizard, regret showing in her eyes. "I shouldn't have yelled at you like that."

"Don't worry about it." said Finn. "Bonnie used to yell at me all the time when I'd donk something up."

"I wish you hadn't seen that side of me." said Huntress Wizard. "Sometimes when I get really angry or frustrated, my madness and sadness just takes over. When I was younger it wasn't as bad, but it got worse as I got older."

"MMS is nothing new to me." said Finn. "I've seen my fair share of it, especially when it came to Ice King."

"Then you should know how dangerous it can be." said Huntress Wizard. "Within every magic user is a constant battle to keep their emotions in check, but sometimes they lose their grip. When that happens, they might say things or do things they don't really mean. Things that can hurt the people they care about."

"Is that why you've been avoiding spending too much time with me?" asked Finn. "Because you're afraid you'll hurt me?"

"Yes." said Huntress Wizard, reluctantly admitting it. "In a way, it's like the Hedgehog's Dilemma."

"Hedgehog's Dilemma?" asked Finn. "What's that?"

"It's when a hedgehog wants to get close to others, but they can't because their spines will hurt them." said Huntress Wizard. "I'm like the hedgehog. I want to get close to people, but if I do I might hurt them. It's the same with every magic user, some are just more aware of it than others. That's why the only friends magic users typically have are other magic users, because they're the only ones who can understand what they're going through. I'm lucky I have my dad at least, because without him I probably would have given in to the madness and sadness a long time ago."

"If it's so bad, then why do you keep using it?" asked Finn. "Is having magic really worth it if it causes you all this pain?"

"It's not that simple for me." said Huntress Wizard. "I didn't learn my magic like most other magic users did, I was born with it. Magic gave life to me. It's ingrained into my very being. I can't just make it go away. To reject it would be to reject my true nature."

"Then maybe we can find a way to get rid of your magic." said Finn. "I'm sure there's plenty of ways to do that."

"You don't understand Finn." said Huntress Wizard. "I literally _"cannot"_ exist without my magic. It's what allows me to maintain this form."

"It's just like with Fern." said Finn, being reminded of his former grass clone. "So what would happen if you ever did lose your magic?"

"It did happen once, when Belle Noche attacked Wizard City." said Huntress Wizard. "I was one of the people who got caught up in his attack and lost their magic. At first I didn't really notice, but then my body started to feel really heavy, like it wanted to go to sleep. It was like something was calling me to return to the earth. I was so scared, I didn't know what to do. It was the first time I had ever been without my magic. Lucky for me, that woman showed up and defeated Belle Noche, so my magic came back. I never told my father about this. He'd feel terrible knowing he almost killed his daughter on accident by releasing Belle Noche."

"But what if Betty hadn't been there to stop Belle Noche?" asked Finn, the thought scaring him. "Would you have died?"

"I don't know." said Huntress Wizard, her voice fearful. "Back then I only lost my magic for a few minutes, so I can only imagine what would have happened had it been longer. Maybe the same thing that happens when I sleep, only I can't change back. Ever since the Belle Noche, I've had this constant fear that one day I might go to sleep and just never wake up. I'll go back to being like all the other plants in this garden. Watching Fern die and fade away on that battlefield, that fear only grew. If it could happen to Fern, then it can happen to me too. Someday my magic will fade, and when it does I'll return to the earth just like he did."

"I won't let that happen." said Finn, grabbing Huntress Wizard's hand. "If you stay with me, I'll keep you safe."

"Can you really?" asked Huntress Wizard, sounding doubtful. "Finn, do you remember what I told that day went looking for the Forest Spirit?"

"You said something about not wanting to become soft." said Finn. "You were afraid that if you did, you would cease to matter in the world."

"What I said was only half true." said Huntress Wizard. "To me, becoming soft means losing my magic. I wouldn't just cease to matter in this world, I'll cease to exist in it entirely. I can't just get rid of it, because if it goes away, so will I. My magic is a curse I have to live with, madness and sadness included. My only choice then is to not let myself get too close to others, because if I do I'll hurt them. If you keep going down this road with me Finn, I'll inevitably hurt you too. Do you really want that?"

"I'm sure we could find a way to make it work... somehow." said Finn, not certain of this himself. "I once dated a literal ball of fire with the power to destroy the world, so how much worse can this be?"

"Haven't you been hurt enough though?" said Huntress Wizard, reaching out to put her hand on Finn's face. "You've suffered plenty already. Why would you want to add to that suffering by being with someone like me?"

"What can I say, I'm not one to give up so easily." said Finn, smiling. "Even if we do grow apart and eventually go our separate ways, I still want to stay with you for as long as I can."

"Seems you're both stubborn AND stupid." said Huntress Wizard, not sure what else to say as she turned away to hide the fact that she was now blushing. "I think I'm ready to go to sleep now. I'll see you in the morning."

Finn continued to hold Huntress Wizard's hand as they drifted off into sleep, only to then wake up later that night to the sensation of something cold and rough touching his skin. Startled by this, Finn looked down to find that rather than Huntress Wizard's hand, he was now grasping a strange branch which only vaguely resembled an arm, its source being a log that now occupied the spot where Huntress Wizard had been laying. Confused, Finn then recalled how Huntress Wizard would involuntarily transform into a log whenever she slept and felt relived knowing she was still technically there with him, but seeing her replaced with this lifeless log made him feel a bit lonely. Finn wished he could cuddle up with Huntress Wizard and fall back asleep in her arms, but trying to so with a log would be difficult, if not impossible. Trying to find other ways to help him sleep, Finn pulled out his flute and began playing a song with it, but the tune came out sounding messy and distorted.

"No, that can't be right." said Finn, struggling to play his flute with only one arm. "That's not how it's supposed to sound."

Try as he might, Finn could not get the right sound he wanted. Something about his flute playing was different now, as though the magic it once had was gone. Figuring that it might be because two hands were needed to play a flute properly, Finn eventually gave up altogether and put his flute away. With everything now silent around him, Finn laid down on his back to gaze up at the stars, his stomach beginning to hurt as he did.

"Great, now my stomach hurts too." said Finn, holding his stomach. "Was it the blue berries?"

Finn struggled to fall asleep as his stomach continued to ache, so to help distract himself from the pain he began thinking about all the weird and bizarre questions regarding life and the universe that only he and Jake had ever thought to ask. Right he was finally about to fall asleep, Finn suddenly came to a startling revelation.

"Wait a minute, are all fruits basically just plant babies?" asked Finn, pondering the question. "Oh my Glob, they are! All those times Jake and I have eaten fruit, we've actually been eating plant babies the whole time! Glob is dead, and we killed him..."

"No I'm not." said a voice, calling out to Finn from the heavens above. "I'm up here."

Hearing this voice from out of the blue, Finn immediately shot up from his sleeping bag and looked above him, where he saw one of the heads of Grob Gob Glob Grod floating there among the stars, still caught in Earth's orbit after having been blown apart.

"Oh, it's just you Glob." said Finn, breathing a sigh of relief. "How long have you been up there watching me?"

"I'm always watching you Finn." said the head of Grob Gob Glob Grod. "I can see everything from up here."

"Hey Glob, you know the answer to pretty much everything, right?" asked Finn. "Are fruits technically plant babies?"

"Go back to sleep Finn." said the head of Grob Gob Glob Grod. "There's some things you're better off not knowing..."

As Finn slowly fell back asleep he continued to ponder the mysteries of the universe, wondering just what other sorts of obvious truths he had been unaware of so far.

* * *

 _5 years ago._

After moving to Wizard City with her father, Diana went on to spend the next four years training her magic even further. As she delved deeper and deeper into the mad and sad world of magic, she learned everything she could from her him, until eventually Forest Wizard had nothing left to teach her. With her training complete, Diana was now a full-fledged wizard, one that was more independent and self-reliant than her younger self. The annual wizard battle would soon be upon them, this year being hosted by Princess Bubblegum, and seeing it as the perfect opportunity to test herself, Diana decided to enter it along with her father.

"Are you excited?" asked Forest Wizard. "This will be your first wizard battle Diana. You'll finally get to fight alongside your old man."

"If we end having to face each other, don't think I'll go easy on you dad." said Diana, smiling. "It'll be every wizard for themselves."

"To think you used to hang on my sleeve everywhere we went." said Forest Wizard, laughing. "Now look at you, already going through your rebellious teenage phase. You've grown into quite the creation."

"What did you make me for anyway?" asked Diana, now curious. "You're always saying you created me, but you've never said why."

"To tell you the truth, I really don't know." said Forest Wizard, shrugging. "It was all on a whim really. I just threw some stuff in a hole and enchanted it with magic, then a year later you showed up. I don't remember why, or even how I did it, but looking back on it... I'm glad I did."

Over the years, it had completely slipped Forest Wizard's mind that the reason he created Diana to begin with was because of some attempt to outdo Grassy Wizard. The careless and absent-minded Forest Wizard had eventually come to forget all about his foolish rivalry with Grassy Wizard, and without even realizing it had begun to view Diana as his actual daughter and not just a mere creation.

"So how do we enter this wizard battle thing?" asked Diana. "Do we just walk in and sign something?"

"Something of the sort." said Forest Wizard. "You'll also need to come up with an epithet for yourself. You don't want too many people knowing your real name."

"Magic users often have epithets related to the type of magic they use, right?" asked Diana. "What should mine be?"

"You seem to be quite fond of using magic arrows, so how about something related to hunting?" asked Forest Wizard. "I did name you after an ancient huntress after all."

"A wizard that uses arrows..." said Diana, thinking. "How about... Huntress Wizard?"

"Wizard?" said Forest Wizard. "Why not witch? That's what most female magic call themselves."

"But I want to be called wizard, just like you." said Diana. "Witch just doesn't have the same impact to it. It'll make me sound weaker."

"When you put it that way, it's actually kind of fitting." said Forest Wizard. "When I first found you in the garden, I honestly couldn't tell if were a boy or a girl."

"Huntress Wizard it is then." said Diana, settling on the name. "There, all set. Now let's go win that wizard battle."

With that, Forest Wizard and the newly christened Huntress Wizard set off for the arena where the wizard battle was being held, though in a surprise upset the winner that year would not be a wizard, but rather young a boy who simply wanted to kiss a princess and keep the other contestants from being able to do the same.

* * *

Finn woke up the next morning to the sound of shouting, and after crawling out from his sleeping bag he looked over to see that it was Huntress Wizard, who was standing in the middle of the garden performing a set of exercises while wearing only her bra and underpants made from leaves. Gumdrop was there as well, watching Huntress Wizard from a distance and playfully mimicking her movements.

"Photosynthesize, photosynthesize, photosynthesize!" said Huntress Wizard, raising her arms towards the sun.

"What are you doing?" asked Finn, rubbing his eyes as he walked over to Huntress Wizard.

"I'm photosynthesizing." said Huntress Wizard, sounding happier and more upbeat than she had been the previous night.

"You can do that?" asked Finn, surprised to learn this fact.

"Yeah, but I don't do it all that often." said Huntress Wizard. "Only when I really need to, and seeing as we don't have any food, this will be my breakfast until I can find some. The early morning sun rays are the best. They're packed with the most energy. Wanna to join me?"

"I would, but it don't think it'll do much for me." said Finn. "Seeing as I'm not part-plant like you..."

"Oh that's right, you don't have chloroplasts." said Huntress Wizard, remembering that Finn was just a normal human.

"Let me know when you're done, okay." said Finn. "I want to head back home as soon as possible."

"It won't take much longer." said Huntress Wizard, resuming her morning ritual. "Photosynthesize, photosynthesize, photosynthesize!"

After finishing up, Finn and Huntress Wizard left the garden and spent the next few hours hiking back to Finn's house in the grasslands, where they found Jake sitting on the porch outside.

"Hey Jake." said Finn, happy to see him again. "We're back."

"So how did it go?" asked Jake, eager to know the details. "Did you two have fun on your little date?"

"We had loads of fun." said Finn. "First we practiced our archery, then we went dungeon crawling with Susan and Frieda, and then we got hungry and tried to catch something to eat, but that didn't go too well. It got pretty late so we had to spend the night at Huntress Wizard's old house."

"Spent the night, eh?" said Jake, smiling. "Is that all you did?"

"It wasn't like that Jake." said Finn, blushing. "We mostly just talked."

"About what?" asked Jake. "Romantic stuff?"

"Kind of." said Finn, not sure how to describe it. "Huntress Wizard opened up to me and I learned some really deep and personal stuff about her. This morning she seemed to feel a lot better. I think Gumdrop is even starting to grow on her too."

"Hey Finn, are you hungry?" asked Huntress Wizard. "Let's go hunt something."

Without even giving him time to say anything, Huntress Wizard took Gumdrop from Finn and handed her off to Jake, after which she began dragging him away to the forest with her.

"Does it have to be right now?" asked Finn, hesitant to go. "I just got back."

"I'm going to teach you how to hunt properly; no distractions." said Huntress Wizard. "This time it'll be just the two of us. I'm sure Jake will understand."

As Finn got further and further away, Gumdrop started to panic, kicking and thrashing about in Jake's arms in an attempt to break free herself, resulting in Jake only holding her tighter. Seeing that she could not go with Finn, Gumdrop broke down and began to cry.

"What's wrong Gumdrop?" asked Finn, seeing her distress and immediately running over to her. "Why are you crying?"

"Oh come on, what now!" said Huntress Wizard, sighing with annoyance. "Can't she survive even a minute without you? She's attached to you like..."

Seeing Finn run over to the crying Gumdrop and comfort her, Huntress Wizard was suddenly reminded of a scene from her own childhood. She recalled the time when she had run crying back to her father after abandoning her druid training with the Forest Spirit. Witnessing the start of a similar bond between Finn and Gumdrop, Huntress Wizard now saw the irony in the situation, and sadly came to the realization that Finn's life could not belong solely to her.

"It's okay Gumdrop." said Finn, rocking her back and forth in his arms. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Finn, can we real talk for a minute?" asked Huntress Wizard, rejoining Finn. "Preferably without Jake around."

"Sure, we can talk." said Finn. "Let's sit somewhere."

Huntress Wizard then led Finn towards the Fern tree, where she sat down with him to have a private discussion.

"Finn, I don't know if this is going to work." said Huntress Wizard, revealing what was on her mind.

"What won't work?" asked Finn, sitting Gumdrop in his lap as he listened.

"You know, us... as lovers." said Huntress Wizard.

"But why not?" asked Finn. "I thought you changed your mind about that."

"You've changed Finn." said Huntress Wizard. "You're not the same person anymore."

"What's so bad about that?" asked Finn. "A lot has happened these past few months."

"You changing isn't bad, it's that I've realized our lives are going in two very different directions." said Huntress Wizard. "I thought if you stayed _"hard meat"_ like me, then I wouldn't have to worry about hurting you with my madness and sadness, but now you're getting softer and softer with each passing day. If you try to stay with me like this, you're going to get hurt."

"This again?" said Finn, sighing. "It won't hurt to let yourself be a little vulnerable you know. If you just tried embracing your feelings for once instead of running away from them like you always do, you'll see it's not so bad. We're like a family here. We want you to be a part of it."

"You've got me all wrong Finn." said Huntress Wizard. "I'm not that type of girl. Settling down, having kids, raising a family, that sort of thing just isn't for me. It might make you happy, but not me. I can't bear the thought of being tied down like that. I want to be free, like all the other creatures of the forest."

"If you're happy the way you are, then I won't force you to change just for me." said Finn. "Betty couldn't accept Ice King the way he was, and we all saw how that turned out, so I guess I'll just have to accept you like this and deal with it."

"But will _"you"_ be happy with that?" asked Huntress Wizard. "Expecting you to stay committed to someone like me who just drops in and out of your life whenever they feel like it and never sticks around, that just wouldn't be fair to you. You're always sacrificing your own happiness for that of others. I know you want someone special who will always be by your side, but I don't think I can give you what you're looking for Finn. You'll be much happier with someone else who can."

"But I don't want to throw away what we already have." said Finn, a sad look on his face. "I still want you in my life."

"I still want you too." said Huntress Wizard. "We're definitely more than friends, but trying to force ourselves to adapt to each other's lifestyles in order to be together will only make us both unhappy."

"What should we do then?" asked Finn. "Is there any other alternative?"

There is one other thing we could do..." said Huntress Wizard, thinking. "We could be intimate friends, you know... what Jake calls _"friends with benefits"_. We could do all the things that lovers usually do, but without any of the commitment that comes along with it."

"Friends with benefits..." said Finn, giving the idea some thought. "That might actually work. You do you, and I'll keep doing me, and whenever one of us gets lonely we'll pay the other and visit and spend time together, and when we're done go back to our lives, no strings attached. It'll be the best of both worlds."

"I'm willing to try it if you are." said Huntress Wizard. "Eventually you might find someone special you'll want to spend the rest of your life with, and maybe that person will turn out to be someone who was there all along, but until then we'll keep each other company as friends with benefits. We'll be close, but not too close."

"Close but not too close..." said Finn, mulling it over. "I'm down for it."

"Good." said Huntress Wizard, standing back up. "I'm glad we could work it out."

"I'll see you around then." said Finn, also getting up. "Good luck with the hunt."

"Bye Finn." said Huntress Wizard, leaning over to kiss Finn on the lips.

"Bye Diana." said Finn, returning the kiss.

Finn watched as Huntress Wizard disappeared into the forest, after which he walked back to the house with Gumdrop.

"What was that all about?" asked Jake, immediately questioning Finn upon his return. "Already making plans for your next date?"

"We're not dating." said Finn. "Not anymore at least."

"You're not?" asked Jake, shocked to hear this. "Did you two break up? Was that kiss just now a goodbye kiss?"

"No, it wasn't goodbye." said Finn, reassuring Jake. "We want to try something different. We're going to be friends with benefits now."

"You want to be FWB's?" asked Jake. "But why stop there? You two would make a great couple."

"We came to realize that with the way our lives are, a relationship between us will just fall apart." said Finn. "We still want each other around, but being boyfriend and girlfriend will just come with too much emotional baggage, so this is what we decided to do. We're more than friends, but less than a couple."

"Are you really okay with leaving things like this?" asked Jake. "You finally found someone cool, and now you're just going to let them slip away?"

"It's probably better this way." said Finn. "Relationships are hard work. Huntress Wizard and I already have enough to worry about in our lives."

"Maybe it wouldn't be so hard if you stopped going after only the difficult and dangerous girls." said Jake. "Why not find yourself a nice human girl instead?"

"I don't know if I even want to fall in love anymore Jake." said Finn, a hint of sadness in his voice. "Every time I do, I just get hurt, or worse, hurt someone else. Maybe I should just be satisfied with what I already have instead of chasing after something I don't really need."

"Are you really my brother Finn?" asked Jake, surprised by this unexpectedly mature reaction from Finn. "I remember when you used to obsess over Princess Bubblegum and Flame Princess, and now I can't believe what I'm hearing. Man, you've grown up."

"Since I'm done chasing girls, I can focus on more important things now." said Finn, smiling as he held Gumdrop. "Like being a dad."

"There's no shame in that." said Jake, putting his hand on Finn's shoulder. "Come on, you two must be hungry. I made bacon and eggs."

Finn followed Jake inside, content with putting aside his romantic pursuits for the time being to focus on the less exciting, but equally fulfilling, act of being a parent.

* * *

 **This was a really long and complicated chapter to write, mostly because of how I attempted to tell two stories simultaneously with it, one in the past, and one in the present. The focus of this chapter was obviously Huntress Wizard, a character who never really got much focus or attention in the show, so I decided to do something about that by adding more depth to her character beyond just being Finn's token love interest. I had actually gone through a few different iterations Huntress Wizard's backstory before finally settling on this one.** **In the first version of her backstory I had come up with, Huntress Wizard was created by a wizard much like she was in this version, but rather than Forest Wizard it was actually Grassy Wizard who created her instead.**

 **In the second version, Huntress Wizard would have had actual biological parents, her father being Forest Wizard, and her mother being a forest nymph named Leto, making her a hybrid of two species. Her mother Leto would have been somewhat like a female Martin Mertens, being a very irresponsible and hedonistic person, and in that version she had left Huntress Wizard as a baby with Forest Wizard, who then had to raise her all by himself. This led Huntress Wizard to grow up resenting her birth mother, believing that she had abandoned her and did not love her, leading to some mommy issues. In the plot for that version of this chapter, Finn and Fern would have then gone on a quest with Huntress Wizard to a magical grotto, something which she is at first reluctant to do because her mother and all the other forest nymphs live there, but they need to go there in order to get some magical water for a ritual to help restore the damage to the forest. This would have resulted in Huntress Wizard eventually confronting her mother and the two working out their issues and coming to some sort of understanding. After the events of the finale though, it became much harder to fit these events with the canon and make them work, as it would have resulted in many plot holes and contradictions, so I ultimately decided to scrap that version.**

 **I then went back to my first idea and tried reworking it a bit, resulting in this third and final version of her backstory where Huntress Wizard was created by a wizard, but this time it is** **Forest Wizard, and I must say I am really proud with how this one turned out. In all three of these backstories for Huntress Wizard there was one constant, her having a strong bond with her father. There are so many characters in Adventure Time who seem to have daddy issues for some reason, so with Huntress Wizard I wanted to flip the script a bit by having a character who actually has a good relationship with their biological father for once.** **The names I came up with for Huntress Wizard and her father also have some pretty interesting mythological connections. For Huntress Wizard I thought Diana would be a fitting name, Diana being the name of the Roman goddess of the hunt and nature, both of which are a huge part of Huntress Wizard's character, and I gave Forest Wizard the name Gwydion, who is a figure from Welsh mythology often associated with nature and magic, sometimes even being depicted as a wizard.**

 **Last but not least there is the elephant in the room, which is the status of the relationship between Finn and Huntress Wizard at end of this chapter. The way I am depicting it, Finn and Huntress Wizard are not a couple, but they are more than friends. I may be in the minority, but I actually liked the way the show ended off Finn and Huntress Wizard's relationship in the episode Flute Spell. Their decision to not fall in love had weight and meaning to it, so for the writers to then decide to backpedal on that by having Huntress Wizard randomly change her mind out of nowhere about wanting a relationship just so they could give Finn a last minute love interest for the final season felt really cheap and forced to me. It was like the writers responsible for her later appearances completely missed the point behind the ending of Flute Spell. When writing Huntress Wizard for this story, I did not want to go down the cliche route of Finn trying to change her and make her soft so they can get together, because then she would lose what made her so interesting to begin with and basically turn into another Flame Princess. On the other hand, I also did not want throw away what they already had and go the other cliche route of them deciding to just be friends, because the two obviously have an attraction to each other, and it is not like you can just flip a switch and expect those feelings to suddenly disappear, like how they tried to make it seem with Finn's feelings towards his previous love interests Princess Bubblegum and Flame Princess.**

 **I wanted to find a balance between these two conflicting outcomes, and that is when I came up with the idea of having Finn and Huntress Wizard befriends with benefits. That type of relationship is something I have rarely ever seen explored in a show, let alone a cartoon, so decided to try it out here. A common misconception that people might have about friends with benefits relationships is that they are only about sex, but that is not necessarily true. Friends with benefits can involve two friends doing all sorts of things together that couples would normally do, like hugging, kissing, holding hands, hanging out, and yes, having sex too, but without the commitment or emotional attachment that comes with a romantic relationship. A friends with benefits relationship seemed like it would work well for Finn and Huntress, who still enjoy being intimate with each other, but are unable to spend much time together due to their differing lifestyles and responsibilities. Huntress Wizard has her duty to protect the forest and look after its creatures, and Finn has his responsibility to take care of Baby Gumdrop. I know it may be a bit of a downer that Finn decided to give up on looking for love, at least for the time being, but him choosing to focus on being a parent rather than pursuing a romantic relationship was meant to serve as an important milestone for his character. By doing so, Finn has shown that he finally understands the lesson Princess Bubblegum once tried to teach him, that sometimes responsibility demands sacrifice.**


	15. Episode 14: Home Sweet Home

On a lazy summer afternoon, Finn, Jake, and Marceline were sitting together watching television on the couch. Finn and Jake both sat upright, while Marceline laid sprawled across it, her feet propped up on Finn's lap as she painted her toenails.

"Do you really have to do that here Marceline?" asked Jake, annoyed because her feet were so close to his face. "I hate having to smell your feet."

"Come on, they don't smell that bad." said Marceline, continuing to apply her black nail polish. "Either way, it's too late for me to move now. I have to wait until they're dry."

"What about you Finn?" asked Jake. "They're all up in your face. Tell her they stink."

"I don't smell anything." said Finn, seemingly not bothered by it. "Maybe I've gone nose-blind."

"See, he's fine with it." said Marceline, playfully putting her foot on Finn's hat as a way of teasing Jake.

"You wouldn't be saying that if you had a sensitive dog nose like mine." said Jake.

Jake proceeded to stretch the upper portion of his body down to the floor to escape from the smell, where he saw Gumdrop happily rolling around and chewing on one of her toys. As Marceline finally finished painting her nails, Lumpy Space Princess came into the room and joined them after coming from the bathroom.

"Finn, Jake, the toilet is clogged again!" said Lumpy Space Princess.

"Again?" said Jake, reluctantly getting up to go unclog it. "Come on LSP, this is like the fifth time."

"I swear it wasn't me this time!" said Lumpy Space Princess. "It was Ice King. He took a big huge dump and then left."

"Nice try LSP, but Ice King doesn't exist anymore." said Finn, not believing her. "Simon was cured a long time ago, and Gunter turned into that big bird monster. There's no way either of them could have gotten in here without us noticing."

"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen Simon around lately." said Marceline. "I dropped by the Ice Kingdom earlier today, but nobody was home. Not Simon, not Patience, not Turtle Princess, and not even that weird ice thing they keep as a pet. Where did they all go?"

"Maybe they're on vacation somewhere?" said Finn. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen BMO either. He disappeared right around when Simon left that note saying he's borrowing the Enchiridion."

"He what!" said Marceline, shocked to hear that Simon had taken the Enchiridion to do Glob knows what. "I really hope he's not planning on doing anything stupid..."

"That was a couple days ago, so if he's planning on doing something stupid, he's probably already gone and done it by now." said Finn. "At least Patience is with him, so hopefully she'll keep him out of trouble."

"That's even worse!" said Marceline, Finn's attempt at reassurance causing her to worry even more now. "Sure, as his student she respects Simon, but knowing how crazy she is about magic she'll probably just end up encouraging and enabling him."

Jake finally returned from unclogging the bathroom toilet, and as he approached the small tent Lumpy Space Princess had set up inside their house as her living area, he stepped on a pile of food wrappers.

"LSP, how many times do we have to tell you to clean up after yourself." said Jake, shaking one of the wrappers off his foot. "If you're going to live with us, the least you can do is pick up your trash."

"Fine, whatever." said Lumpy Space Princess, pulling out a garbage bag. "But you should know that this sort of work is beneath a princess like me."

After she had picked up all of her trash, Jake noticed a stack of envelopes that were buried underneath, all of them addressed to Lumpy Space Princess.

"What are these?" asked Jake, picking up the envelopes.

"Probably just junk mail." said Lumpy Space Princess. "You can throw them away. I never bother with paper mail anyway. It's so last century."

"Doesn't look like junk mail to me." said Jake, examining the postage stamps on them. "Someone went through a lot of effort to send these to you."

"Do whatever you want then." said Lumpy Space Princess, not seeming to care.

Jake put the stack of letters on a nearby desk and sat back down on the couch with Finn and Marceline, while Lumpy Space Princess left the room to go find something to eat in the kitchen.

"They're sending all her mail here now?" asked Marceline. "How long has LSP been bumming around with you guys? Doesn't she have her own place?"

"She did, but her hobo camp got destroyed in that battle between Ice King and Crimson King." said Finn. "She didn't have anywhere else to go, so we felt kind of bad and let her crash with us for a while."

"But that was months ago." said Marceline. "Don't you think she might have overstayed her welcome a bit?"

"She has, but we just can't bring ourselves to kick her out and leave her homeless again." said Jake. "We don't know what else to do."

"She just needs some help getting back on her feet is all." said Marceline. "How about we try finding her a new home?"

"But where are we gonna find one of those?" asked Finn. "A house costs money, and LSP doesn't exactly have a steady job to support herself."

"Forget about all that complicated grown-up stuff." said Marceline, brushing it off. "She doesn't need a big fancy house or anything like that, just a place to call home. There's plenty to choose from in Ooo."

"It's worth a shot." said Finn, accepting the proposal. "First thing tomorrow, we're going house hunting with LSP."

All in agreement with the idea, Finn, Jake, and Marceline got up and went to the kitchen to tell Lumpy Space Princess about their plans to help her find a new home.

* * *

The following morning, Finn, Jake were outside with Marceline and Lumpy Space Princess, ready to leave on their journey to help the latter find a new home.

"So what are we doing again?" asked Lumpy Space Princess, already having forgotten the plan.

"We're going house hunting." said Marceline, strapping Gumdrop to her back. "You need a new home."

"But I don't need a new home." said Lumpy Space Princess. "I like it here with you guys."

"You'll change your mind once you find somewhere you really like." said Jake. "It might even be better than here."

With that the four of them set off, their search taking them to a wide variety of locations in Ooo. The first place they visited was a large abandoned house at the top of a mountain, the same one in which they had once hosted a dinner party.

"How about this place?" asked Finn. "It could use a little sprucing up, but it's got that nice Victorian feel to it."

"No way." said Lumpy Space Princess. "Isn't this the same place where you said you saw that ghost lady? I don't want to live in some haunted house."

Moving on from there, the next place they found was a small underground burrow which had previously been dug out by some large animal.

"How about this place?" asked Jake. "It's more of a den really, but at least it'll keep you out of the elements."

"It's too small." said Lumpy Space Princess, having trouble squeezing into it. "Do I look like a hobbit to you?"

Moving on from there, the next place they came to was a broken bridge, passing underneath it to find the entrance to a dark cave filled with water.

"How about this place?" asked Finn, entering the cave with her.

"It's way too dark and damp in here." said Lumpy Space Princess, dismissing it as well. "It smells weird too."

"Hey, this is my house!" said Marceline, realizing that they were in her cave. "She's not staying here with me if that's what you're thinking."

After that, the next place they visited was a barn with a large grain silo located near the outskirts of the Candy Kingdom.

"Maybe the country life suits you more." said Jake. "As an added bonus, you could make tons of popcorn with all the corn in this silo."

"How do I even get inside?" asked Lumpy Space Princess, pointing out how the grain silo had no door, but instead a ladder leading to the top.

While this was going on, the door to the barn opened and Lady Rainicorn emerged, curious as to what Finn, Jake, Marceline, and Lumpy Space Princess were doing.

"Anyoung Jake!" said Lady Rainicorn, greeting Jake with a confused expression as she watched them trying to climb into the grain silo. "Mwo hae?

"Hey Lady." said Jake. "We're helping Lumpy Space Princess find a new place."

"Mannaseo pangapsumnida." said Lady Rainicorn, a sad look on her face. "Bogoshipo."

"I miss you too Lady." said Jake, hugging Lady Rainicorn and giving her a kiss. "Hey, guess what? Since Finn and I don't have to worry about hero stuff anymore, I can come visit you whenever I want now. Maybe you can help us out with this. Know any good locales around here? Something with a nice view would be great."

"Joeunde arayo!" said Lady Rainicorn, one coming to mind.

Following the directions of Lady Rainicorn, the group now found themselves at the top of a massive tree in the Forest of Trees, which gave them a superb vantage point of the surrounding area.

"Lady was right, the view here is gorgeous!" said Jake. "You could even build yourself a tree house up here LSP."

As they surveyed the landscape, two other people climbed up into the canopy of the tree and joined them, the humans Susan and Frieda.

"Hey Susan." said Finn, surprised to see his surrogate sister. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Neither did we." said Susan, carrying a large metal cable with her.

"So what are you guys up to?" asked Frieda. "We're setting up a zip-line to our house."

"We're helping Lumpy Space Princess look for a new home." said Finn. "Would it be okay if she lived here? The two of you would practically be neighbors."

"Can she handle it?" asked Frieda. "The forest here isn't like the one where you guys live. There's lots of dangerous stuff out here, not to mention all the scary monsters that come out at night. If she's going to live here, she'll need to be tough like us to survive."

"On second thought, maybe we should try someplace else." said Finn, suddenly changing his mind. "I'd feel terrible if LSP got poisoned by something or had her face ripped off by a monster because of us."

Saying goodbye to Susan and Frieda, the next place they visited was the forest which had been restored by Huntress Wizard and the other nature magic users, finding the spot where her old hobo camp had once been.

"How about this place?" asked Jake. "If you liked your old hobo camp, you could build a new one right where it used to be. Sometimes it's best to stick with the familiar."

"What are you talking about?" asked Lumpy Space Princess. "Everything here looks different now! I can't tell anything apart anymore."

With all the noise she was making, Lumpy Space Princess attracted the attention of Huntress Wizard, who appeared from the trees above.

"What's with all the noise?" asked Huntress Wizard. "It sounds like the wails of some miserable creature."

"You're not too far from the mark there..." said Finn. "Don't mind us, we're just helping LSP find a new place to live. We've been at it all day..."

"How's that going for you?" asked Huntress Wizard.

"Not so good." said Finn. "She doesn't seem to like any of the places we've visited so far. So how has your day been?"

"I was just in the middle of doing some gardening." said Huntress Wizard.

"By the way, have you seen Simon or Patience St. Pim around?" asked Finn. "I was wondering if you might have seen them in Wizard City."

"I haven't." said Huntress Wizard. "Why do you ask?"

"They're missing and nobody knows where they are." said Finn. "So are BMO, Gunter, and Turtle Princess. We're thinking maybe it's something magic-related."

"Could be." said Huntress Wizard, thinking for a moment. "I'll let you know if I see or hear anything."

After parting ways with Huntress Wizard, their search eventually led them back to the front yard of Finn and Jake's house in the grasslands.

"I think I like this one." said Lumpy Space Princess, going inside. "It's perfect!"

"Wait a minute, we're right back where we started!" said Jake, frustrated by this turn of events.

"Well that was an epic fail." said Marceline. "We just went in circles."

"I give up." said Finn, sighing. "We'll just have to try this again some other time."

Exhausted from spending an entire day dealing with Lumpy Space Princess, Finn, Jake, and Marceline sat back down on the couch, just like they had the previous day.

* * *

Later that week, Finn and Jake were out checking their mailbox when they came across another letter addressed to Lumpy Space Princess. Going back inside to give it to her, they found her sitting on the couch with a bored and lifeless expression on her face, eating from a bag of potato chips as she watched television.

"Hey LSP, you got another letter in the mail." said Jake.

"Throw it in the pile with the others." said Lumpy Space Princess, not seeming to care.

"The address says it came from Lumpy Space." said Finn. "Is it someone you know?"

"It's probably my stupid parents." said Lumpy Space Princess, groaning. "Why can't they just leave me alone?"

"It's because they miss you." said Finn. "You might not care about them, but they still care about you."

"Why do they even bother with a terrible daughter like me?" asked Lumpy Space Princess.

"Alright, what's wrong LSP?" asked Jake, noting the change in her mood. "You've been like this all week. We tried helping you, but ever since you moved in with us you've become a complete shut-in. You don't even want to go outside anymore. What happened to the spunky and outgoing LSP we used to know?"

"That LSP is a horrible person." said Lumpy Space Princess. "All she's good for is spreading gossip and being a pain in the butt."

"Where is this coming from all of a sudden?" asked Finn, surprised to see Lumpy Space Princess so depressed. "This isn't like you at all LSP."

"It's because my life sucks!" said Lumpy Space Princess, venting her frustrations to them as she ate from a tub of ice cream. "Everything has been going downhill for me. I thought the problem was everyone else, but it's actually been me the whole time. I keep ruining my own chances at happiness because of how jealous and insecure I always am. Nobody likes me. Nobody can stand me, and I think I finally understand why. It's because I'm a mean, nasty, toxic person. Everyone would be much better off without me in their lives. I don't deserve to be Queen of Lumpy Space."

"That's not true." said Finn. "If nobody likes you, why they be going through the trouble of sending you all these letters?"

"I bet it's just hate mail." said Lumpy Space Princess. "I've gotten plenty of that over the years."

"You don't know that." said Finn. "Why not read them and find out?"

"I'm not in the mood." said Lumpy Space Princess, sinking into the space between the couch cushions. "Can't you just let me sulk? I'd rather just eat chips and ice cream all day. It's the only thing I'm good for now."

"If you're not going to read them, then came we read them?" asked Finn.

"Sure, knock yourselves out." said Lumpy Space Princess, pointing to the stack of letters on the desk.

Taking the stack of letters with them to the kitchen, Finn and Jake sat down at the table and began opening them. Reading them one by one, they found that the letters had come from a wide variety of people in Ooo, many of them seemingly thanking Lumpy Space Princess and expressing their gratitude towards her. The writers all detailed the struggles and hardships they had each experienced in their lives, and how the actions of Lumpy Space Princess in returning Ooo back to its original state with her anti-elemental powers had inadvertently changed them for the better, their stories almost bringing Finn and Jake to tears.

"Jake, these letters aren't hate mail... they're fan mail!" said Finn, excited by their discovery.

"If only she could meet these people in person." said Jake. "They could tell her just how much she really matters to them."

"That's it!" said Finn. "Just like that time you guys did that music festival to cheer me up. We should invite all these people over and have them say nice things about LSP. That'll cheer her up."

"Tracking them down shouldn't be too hard if we just follow the addresses on the envelopes." said Jake. "Come on, let's get Marceline in on this too."

Finn got out his cellphone and began calling Marceline, eager to tell her about their plan to arrange a meeting between Lumpy Space Princess and all of her admirers.

* * *

A few days later, Finn, Jake, and Marceline had finally managed to track down all of the people who had sent letters to Lumpy Space Princess, and now approached her in the living room where they found her sitting on the couch usual, still wallowing in her own self-pity.

"Hey LSP, we've got a surprise for you." said Finn, a smile on his face "Come outside with us."

"What is it now?" asked Lumpy Space Princess, groaning as she got up. "Are we going house hunting again?"

"Not today." said Marceline. "There's some people we want you to meet."

Finn, Jake, and Marceline led Lumpy Space Princess outside to the front yard where a large crowd of people had gathered, and upon seeing her they all began to cheer, some of them even holding up banners with her image on them.

"What's with all these people?" asked Lumpy Space Princess, confused.

"They're the ones who've been sending you all those letters." said Finn. "You might not know them personally, but you've helped change all of their lives in one way or another. That's why they're here, to meet you."

"So are they some kind of angry mob?" asked Lumpy Space Princess, now backing away. "What did I do this time?"

"They're not an angry mob, they're your fans." said Finn, reassuring her. "Just listen to what they have to say."

Two people stepped forward from the crowd to greet Lumpy Space Princess first, one of them being Finn and Jake's friend Braco, and the other being Breakfast Princess.

"Hey Lumpy Space Princess, it's me Braco." said Braco, nervously greeting her. "You remember me from the Breakfast Kingdom, don't you? You might already know this, but a few years ago I was cursed by a demon and turned into a hideous monster. Your anti-elemental powers are what changed me back. I never got to properly thank you for that. Ever since then, my life has changed so much. I finally found the courage to get out there and meet new people, real people, and it was all thanks to you. I even found someone special too. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart LSP, because otherwise I'd probably still be wasting my life away with some metal husk."

"I guess I should be thanking you too." said Breakfast Princess, trying to swallow her pride. "I know we don't always get along, but if it wasn't for you, I never would have met Braco here. He's able to put up with all my moods and love me the way I am. In a way, you're the one that brought us together. You make a pretty good matchmaker."

The next person to step out from the crowd was a tall green-skinned man wearing a wide brimmed hat, and with him were two children.

"Greetings Lumpy Space Princess, I am Peace Master." said the man, bowing to show his thanks. "Over the years, I have encountered many evil creatures, but none as evil as the candy demon who wronged me and my family. With his dark magic, he cursed my children and turned them into creatures of darkness. Only my youngest was spared, but imagine my surprise when I wake up one day and find them returned to their former state. It fills my heart with joy to know that the demon responsible received a taste of his own medicine at the hands of Uncle Gumbald, but even more joy do I feel to finally be able to meet their savior and thank them in person."

"Yeah, thanks for changing us back." said his daughter.

"Being a lizard got boring pretty fast." said his son.

The next to greet Lumpy Space Princess was a group of short creatures wearing robes, who all pulled back their hoods to reveal their faces to her.

"We have traveled a long and far to meet you Lumpy Space Princess." said the leader of the group. "Those of us you see here before you were once part of a colony of lepers, isolated from society because of our affliction. For years we were feared and shunned by everyone, our disfigurement causing people to flee in terror at the sight of us, but thanks to your anti-elemental magic we have been cured, and we can once again be a part of society without fear of judgement or prejudice."

After each of the creatures expressed their thanks to Lumpy Space Princess, the next to approach her from the crowd was a little girl.

"Hi Lumpy Space Princess." said the little girl. "I heard you've been feeling down in the dumps lately, so I came to cheer you up. About year ago, I was diagnosed with an incurable disease. The doctors told me I only had a few months to live. When my parents heard the news they couldn't stop crying. They hoped and prayed for a miracle, and you answered their prayers. I woke up one day and I was all better. When I heard about the sassy queen who saved Ooo with her lumps, I knew right away it had to have been you who saved me."

One after another the people in the crowd greeted Lumpy Space Princess, each of them telling her their stories of how she had changed their lives.

"You see LSP, these people here genuinely appreciate you." said Finn, gesturing to the crowd. "To them, you're everything."

"You've all got the wrong idea about me." said Lumpy Space Princess, addressing the crowd. "You seem to think I'm some kind of hero or savior, but I'm not."

"You are to me." said the little girl, hugging Lumpy Space Princess. "You gave me a second chance at life, and for that you'll always be my hero."

"You're just saying that." said Lumpy Space Princess. "I'm no hero. I couldn't save someone even if I tried."

"That couldn't be farther from the truth." said the leader of the group of short creatures, who all began to hug Lumpy Space Princess as well. "You may not be the hero you think you are, but you turned out to be the hero we all needed."

"I'm not worthy of being called a hero." said Lumpy Space Princess. "I'm just a pathetic purple fart cloud."

"You're more worthy than you know." said Peace Master, hugging her along with his children. "The power you possess is something truly remarkable. Just think of all the good you could do with it. That's something I could only ever dream of."

"But I never meant to help any of you the way I did." said Lumpy Space Princess. "It just sort of happened."

"That's what they call a happy accident." said Braco, hugging Lumpy Space Princess as well. "Accident or no, it still doesn't change the fact that you've made all of our lives better."

"You wouldn't be saying that if you knew the real me." said Lumpy Space Princess, now beginning to tear up. "The real me is a shallow and petty person whose hurt so many people. What kind of hero is that?"

"We've all got our flaws." said Breakfast Princess, now hugging Lumpy Space Princess too. "We can't always change them, but we can learn to live with them. So what if you aren't perfect? Just do what I do. Trade your wings for a broomstick."

"Nobody has ever said such nice things to me before." said Lumpy Space Princess, breaking down and starting to cry. "Do you guys really mean it? Even you Breakfast Princess? "

"Of course they do." said Jake. "We're not done yet. There's someone else here who wants to say something too. Get over here Lemongrab."

Jake then stretched his arm out to the back of the crowd where Lemongrab had been hiding and pulled him over to the front where Lumpy Space Princess was.

"Greetings purple one." said Lemongrab, shyly approaching Lumpy Space Princess and trying to think of something nice to say. "Although you may be loud and abrasive at times, I too find you to be, mmmm acceptable."

"See, that wasn't so bad Lemongrab." said Marceline, patting him on the back. "You're getting better at this expressing your feelings thing."

"I've been such a horrible friend to you guys." said Lumpy Space Princess, sobbing as she turned to face Finn, Jake, and Marceline. "You three would cross the ocean for me, but in return I would only hurt you with all the stupid things I've done. I'm sorry for everything, especially you Finn..."

"Realizing your mistakes is the first step to fixing them." said Finn. "The fact that you're doing that mow is a good sign."

"There's only one thing left to do now." said Jake, handing Lumpy Space Princess the letter from her parents. "Are you up for it?"

"I have been feeling a little homesick lately." said Lumpy Space Princess, taking the letter. "I don't know if I can do it alone though. Can you guys come with me?"

"Anything for you girl." said Marceline. "Just tell us when, and we'll be right there with you."

As Lumpy Space Princess addressed the crowd once again, it felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off her chest, and she finally began to feel like herself again.

* * *

The next day, Lumpy Space Princess took Finn, Jake, and Marceline with her to the Cotton Candy Forest, where they located the frog that served as the portal to Lumpy Space.

"Hey Frog, take us to Lumpy Space." said Lumpy Space Princess.

"Password please." said the frog.

"Whatevers2009." said Lumpy Space Princess.

"Good day Lumpy Space Princess." said the frog, sounding happy to see her. "I'm glad you've finally decided to come home. Your mother and father are very worried about you."

"Yeah, I know." said Lumpy Space Princes. "Just hurry up and take us there already."

Acknowledging her request, the frog shot out its long tongue and wrapped it around the four of them, pulling them into its mouth and sending them through the portal to Lumpy Space. A few moments later, they found themselves falling through the air in Lumpy Space until coming to a stop on its cloudy surface.

"Man, this brings back memories." said Finn, recalling their first visit to Lumpy Space. "Last time we were here, Jake and I almost turned into Lumpy Space People."

"Good thing we found that antidote." said Jake, laughing as he remembered the misadventure. "Being Lumpy Space People for the rest of our lives would have sucked."

"I've actually never been here before." said Marceline, looking around at the buildings and structures made from colorful clouds. "This place looks pretty rad though."

As they made their way through the city of clouds, a large group of Lumpy Space People began following them, drawing attention to the fact that Lumpy Space Princess was with them.

"Look everyone, it's LSP!" said one of the Lumpy Space People. "She's back!"

"Can I have your autograph!" said another Lumpy Space Person, running over to her. "I'm like your biggest fan!"

"How did I get so popular all of a sudden?" asked Lumpy Space Princess, surprised by the unusual amount of attention she was receiving.

Two more Lumpy Space People came over to greet Lumpy Space Princess, one of them being her pink friend Melissa and the other being her blue ex-boyfriend Brad.

"Don't you know girl, you're like a Lumpy Space celebrity." said Melissa. "Everyone here wants to be like you now."

"Oh my glob, a celebrity!" said Lumpy Space Princes, excited by this. "When did this happen Melissa?"

"We've been hearing all about your crazy adventures down in Ooo." said Melissa. "Crashing the annual Princess Day, saving the world with your lumps, taking a selfie with a chaos deity, throwing that huge party at Finn and Jake's house, they can't stop talking about you. In the news, in the tabloids, on the internet, everywhere!"

"Wait, you threw a party at our house!" said Jake, turning towards LSP in shock. "No wonder the place was trashed that day we came back from dungeon crawling with Susan and Frieda."

"I'd love to stay and chat Melissa, but there's something I've gotta do first." said Lumpy Space Princess, rushing them along. "I'm here to see my parents."

"Need a ride?" asked Brad. "I can give you a lift in my cloud car."

"How about mine!" said one Lumpy Space Person.

"Or mine!" said a second Lumpy Space Person.

"No, let me be the one to take you!" said a third Lumpy Space Person.

Soon all the Lumpy Space People around them were offering to take Lumpy Space Princess for ride, competing for the right to be the one to drive her to her destination.

"I'll handle this." said Marceline. "Just point to me where it is and I'll fly us there."

Marceline proceeded to transform into her large bat-like form, causing the Lumpy Space People to flee in terror at the sight of it as she picked Finn, Jake, and Lumpy Space Princess and took off into the air with them. Following the guidance of Lumpy Space Princess, Marceline flew them over to the cloud where her parents lived and landed on their front driveway before changing back into her human form.

"Well, here we are." said Lumpy Space Princess, nervously floating over to the front door. "My parents' house..."

Moments later, the door opened and both Lumpy Space King and Lumpy Space Queen emerged, having noticed them arriving through the window.

"Daughter, you've returned!" said Lumpy Space King, surprised by her sudden visit.

"And you brought smooth people with you again." said Lumpy Space Queen, seeing Finn, Jake, and Marceline off in the distance.

"Hey mom and dad, I'm back... again." said Lumpy Space Princess. "I hope you don't mind me dropping in like this. I just..."

"Of course we don't mind." said Lumpy Space King. "This is still your home too."

"You're not mad at me?" asked Lumpy Space Princess, surprised to find them so welcoming towards her.

"How could we be?" asked Lumpy Space Queen. "We're just glad to have you back. We've missed you so much."

"But I made you both worry so much." said Lumpy Space Princess. "I kept running away from home and acting like such a brat."

"Even without us, it seems you've been doing quite well for yourself in the world of the smooth people." said Lumpy Space Queen. "Who would have known our daughter would turn out to be such a super star. It got us thinking... maybe we were a little too harsh on you during your royal training."

"At first we thought your attitude was the problem, but maybe ours was too." said Lumpy Space King. "Perhaps an apology is in order..."

"No, you're wrong!" said Lumpy Space Princess, running over to her parents and hugging them. "It was all me! I'm the one who should be apologizing, not you. I was mean and ungrateful to you, when all you wanted to do was help me be the best queen I could be. I never realized how much you really loved me."

"We'll always love you." said Lumpy Space Queen, hugging her back. "You're our only daughter after all."

"You've made us so proud." said Lumpy Space King, also hugging her. "I know you'll make a great queen of Lumpy Space someday."

"Doesn't look like you'll be needing us." said Finn. "Take your time and let us know when you're done."

"You guys can go if you want." said Lumpy Space Princess. "I think I'll stay here for a while."

"Okay, see you later then." said Jake. "Come on Finn, let's go pick up Gumdrop from Tree Trunk's house."

"Wait, can you guys bring all my stuff here?" asked Lumpy Space Princess. "Being queen of Lumpy Space, I don't know how often I'll be able to see you from now on."

"Sure thing LSP." said Finn, realizing that this meant she would now be moving out of their house. "We'll bring it in the morning."

Satisfied with having helped Lumpy Space Princess reconnect with her parents, Finn, Jake, and Marceline said goodbye to her and left. As Marceline transformed back into her bat-like form and flew away with Finn and Jake, she had a look of contemplation on her face.

"What's wrong Marcy?" asked Finn, noticing her expression. "Are you thinking about your mom and dad too?"

"Yeah, I am..." said Marceline, sighing. "I kind of feel like seeing my dad now for some reason."

As Marceline entered the portal to Ooo, her mind was filled with thoughts of her mother and father, wondering what her life would be like if they were both a part of it.

* * *

 **To tell you all the truth, Lumpy Space Princess is probably one of my least favorite characters in Adventure Time, so I was not really looking forward to writing this chapter, and I even debated whether I should just skip it entirely, but nevertheless it was one I felt needed to happen. This chapter is meant to serve as the wrap up to the character arc of Lumpy Space Princess, which never really got a proper conclusion in the show except for that one moment in the ending montage where it showed her being crowned Queen of Lumpy Space, which sort of came out of nowhere. Throughout the show, Lumpy Space Princess has always been one of the most unlikable people ever, so I thought a fitting way for her character arc to end would be for her to finally realize why nobody likes her, and from that learn how to be better person that people can like.**

 **Of all the chapters I have written for this story so far, this one turned out to be the realest and most down to earth for me. I am sure many people can relate to the experience of struggling with depression and low self-esteem like how Lumpy Space Princess did in this chapter, where sometimes you just lose the motivation to do anything other than stay inside all day. Finn and Jake helping Lumpy Space Princess to overcome her feelings of worthlessness by showing her all the good she has done will definitely help her to become a more thoughtful and considerate person in the future, one that is worthy of being called Queen of Lumpy Space. In the end she was rewarded with the love and adoration of many people, something which the old Lumpy Space Princess would have desperately desired, but for all the wrong reasons.**

 **As a heads up, the next chapter of this story is going to be a little different from what you have been used to up until now. That is because it will follow an odd team-up of characters going on some crazy adventure together. You already got a few hints in this chapter as to who this group might be, and let me tell you things are going to get pretty wild. You will be in for quite a treat with some of the characters they meet and interact with along the way. It will mostly likely be a very long chapter too, much like the previous one was, and I am still in the process of working out how exactly it will go, so it could be a while before I finally get around to finishing and releasing it.**


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